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DPRK defense committee vice-chairman accused of corruption

The Political Bureau of the WPK Central Committee resolved to relieve Jung Sung Taek of all posts, expel him from the Party and strip him of all awards

Jung Sung Taek AP Photo/Xinhua, Li Xin

Jung Sung Taek

© AP Photo/Xinhua, Li Xin

PYONGYANG, December 09. /ITAR-TASS/. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK ) has officially confirmed reports about resignation of Jung Sung Taek, 67, Vice-Chairman of the National Defense Committee NDC), head of the organization department of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) Central Committee. He is the uncle of North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Monday.

KCNA said an enlarged session of the Political Bureau of the WPK Central Committee had been held in Pyongyang under the chairmanship of Kim Jong Un. The session's agenda included an item concerning "the anti-Party and counterrevolutionary activities of Jung Sung Taek".

It was pointed out at the session that Jung and his supporters "deliberately distorted and did not carry out Party decisions and did not obey the orders of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Korean People's Army". Such actions, which were indicative of a renunciation of the principles of class struggle, "did serious damage to the national economy and to the cause of betterment of the wellbeing of people", speakers said.

The NDC Vice-Chairman and his group, it was emphasized at the session, "disorganized the state system of financial management, committing such a crime as a sell-out of national resources at low prices". It was pointed out that the "ideologically weak" Jung Sung Taek, who was under the impact of the capitalist way of life "was susceptible to corruption and lived an amoral and dissolute life". Specifically, he used narcotics and sported away money at casinos in the foreign countries where he underwent medical treatment".

Speakers at the session with one accord "strongly criticized the anti-Party and counterrevolutionary activities of Jung Sung Taek, reaffirmed their determination "to remain true to the ideas and guidance of Kim Jong Un and to secure a reliable political and ideological protection of the WPK Central Committee".

The Political Bureau of the WPK Central Committee resolved to relieve Jung Sung Taek of all posts, expel him from the Party and strip him of all awards. Earlier, Jung had been reckoned one of the most influential figures in the political hierarchy of the DPRK.

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