The Pyongyang Purge
Jang Song-thaek had been seen as a kind of regent to Kim Jong-un, the young successor to the Kim family dynasty, and was thought to be number two in the regime. But he owed his position – and, indeed, his life – to his wife, Kim's aunt, who has been the real power in North Korea since the death of her brother, Kim Jong-il, in 2011.
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TOKYO – During the Cold War, the term “Kremlinology” referred to efforts to understand what was taking place at the commanding heights of the Soviet Union – indeed, behind the entire Iron Curtain. Kremlinologists monitored (in whatever way possible) who was up and who was down among the core Soviet leadership. Great significance was read into who signed an official document, or who stood where atop Lenin’s Tomb in Red Square when reviewing military parades.