Kim Jong Un 'ordered execution of uncle's family'

North Korean leader Kim Jon-un has allegedly ordered the executions of the entire family of the uncle he had earlier put to death for plotting the overthrow of the Pyongyang regime.

South Korea's Yonhap News Agency, citing "multiple" anonymous sources, reports that several direct relatives of Jang Song Thaek, the once-powerful uncle, were targeted in the purge, including children.

Jang was executed last month on charges of attempting a military-backed coup.

Those reportedly executed since include Jang's sister Jang Kye Sun, her husband and ambassador to Cuba Jon Yong-jin, and Jang's nephew Jang Yong-chol, who was ambassador to Malaysia.

Yonhap reported that some of the relatives who had resisted arrest had been "shot to death by pistol in front of other people".

Others related to Jang through marriage had instead been exiled to remote villages with their maiden families.

"The executions of Jang's relatives mean that no traces of him should be left," an anonymous source was quoted as saying.

A harsh "guilt-by-association" culture has prevailed in North Korea for decades, with families facing heavy punishment for being related to political dissidents or defectors.

Britain's Telegraph newspaper claims that Yonhap, a publicly funded news agency with close links to the South Korean intelligence services, has been wrong on North Korea news in the past, but was the first media organisation to report on Jang's death, days before it was announced by North Korea.

Source: New York Post