North Korean leader Kim Jong Un delivers a speech during his New Year address in this undated photo, released by Kyodo Jan. 1, 2014.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un pledged “unity” in his New Year message to the people, just weeks after purging his influential uncle.
The 30-year-old despot clearly referred to the Dec. 12 execution of Jang Song Thaek, widely considered the second most powerful figure in the hermit nation, when he boasted of eliminating “factionalist filth.”
Kim seems to be consolidating power two years after the death of his father, Kim Jong Il. He has vowed to continue his nation’s nuclear weapons program, the root of punitive economic sanctions in the West, amid heightening tensions with U.S. ally South Korea.
[AP]