The real reason for the ouster and execution of North Korea's Jang Song-thaek, considered the second most powerful person in the nuclear-armed nation, may have little to do with his supposed crime of planning a coup.

Bruce Bueno De Mesquita and Alastair Smith, New York University Professors of Politics and coauthors of The Dictator's Handbook, say that it fits a pattern of dictators consolidating power.

"When you come to power, you automatically inherit supporters, people like uncle Thaek. The problem is, you don't know how loyal they are to and they don't know how loyal you are to them. So in the first few weeks when a new leader assumes power, everyone is scared," Smith said. 

New leaders can shake up the inner circle quickly, but they may also wait and see, getting a feel for whom they can count on and building allies before getting rid of prominent play makers.

"Kim Jong-un, just completing his first two years, has learned who within his coalition of key backers are most trustworthy and who are potential threats to his long-term political survival. To survive he must remove the lower loyalty components of his coalition and replace them with people who will be more loyal and carry out his demands in exchange for opportunities to enrich themselves," wrote De Mesquita in an email.

Last year, Kim Jong-un personally ordered the execution of North Korean army minister Kim Chol who was reportedly drinking during the offical mourning period after Kim Jong-il's death. Chol's "misbehavior" resulted in immediate execution, reportedly by mortar round. 

Smith claims the accused crime doesn't have much to do with why the person was executed.

"It's very much about finding who is loyal to you. If you aren't you will be punished in the harshest way. This person was no longer considered to be favorable and I believe they just made an example out of him," Smith said.

Another strategic element in the removal of the Kim Jong-un's uncle how swift the purge was.

"Uncle Thaek had a lot of personal power and many supporters. When they dragged him out of the front row during that meeting it was clear what was going to happen to him.  If he knew or his supporters knew this beforehand they have organized a coup," Smith said.

De Mesquita detects the same pattern happening in China where Xi Jinping is wrapping up his first year in office.

"He has already removed some influential leaders whose loyalty to his predecessor was stronger than to him and he continues to do so. Autocrats who fail to sort out their inherited cronies generals, senior civil servants are ousted quickly, Bueno De Mesquita wrote.

Scott Snyder, Senior Fellow on Korean Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, said more factors would have to come into play in order to tell if the North Korean regime is unstable, despite apparent weaknesses.

"The fact that the execution was so publicly advertised suggests that Kim Jong-un needs to instill fear and that suggests he is not confident about fully consolidating his position. His father used loyalty as a tool and Kim uses fear, which is a much weaker basis," Snyder said.

SEE ALSO: Chilling Photo Shows Kim Jong-Un's Uncle As He Stands Trial For Treason

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If you've spent 2013 in a coma and the first thing you need to be briefed about is the state of North Korea, you've clicked the right link.

In chronological order, we've selected the imagery that best represents North Korea's 2013.

1. Soldier vigorously gesticulating in front of missile no one's even sure can make it off the ground

North Korea rang in the new year by promising to nuke the world and then reneging on that promise. Eager to continue their momentum from ending 2012 with surprise missile launch, the fresh-faced Kim Jong-Un blasted the West for holding down North Korea, popped off a nuke, and launched heavy rhetoric about nuclear strike capabilities.

2. People going absolutely bonkers as Kim Jong-Un visits their island ...

3. ... in a rickety old rowboat

Nothing says thorough iron-fisted dictatorship like the faces of those three people. In 2013, North Koreans still live in a world of military and media control. People who don't greet "Dear Leader" with enthusiasm may even get hauled off.

The boat is just a hint of the state of the North Korean Navy.

4. Dennis Rodman visits Kim right in the middle of all that missile bluster

How's this for a little hiatus: Rodman takes a break from waning stardom and Kim takes a break from threatening nuclear holocaust and both get together to watch a little b-ball.

Rodman calls Kim a "friend," people start calling it basketball diplomacy. Meanwhile, word is that Kim wanted Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, but settled for Rodman.

5. The Logitech mouse affair

The thing about North Korea's threats: analysts and experts think the North's missile capability hovers at about a 50/50 success rate. As if to embody the lack of cutting edge technology needed for missile tech, Kim poses in front of a computer that looks like it belongs on the set of the original Lost In Space.

6. The doctored "strike plan" images

Here, Pyongyang released an image of Kim going over "strike plans."Posted conveniently behind him was a map showing supposed targets inside the U.S. (including, strangely, Austin, Texas).

7. The dancing and singing rocket on a popular North Korea kid show

North Korea boasts about its missile programs because they represent the last best hope at threatening the rest of the world.

In order to instill the same confidence (misplaced or not) in the populace, propagandists used a dancing, smiling Taepo-Dong II rocket.

8. "Heroic" South Korean flees as North Korea withdraws from shared industrial zone

The experts watching North Korea's threats closely quipped that Kim wasn't serious unless he closed the Kaesong industrial zone. Then he closed Kaesong.

The zone was important for two reasons: it represented a shared interest for both countries, and it sent money directly into the pockets of those running the North Korean government.

9. Angry North Korean soldier kicks goat 

North Korea gears up its military as the rest of the country starves. Experts note that many soldiers called into active duty are expected to help with 2013's harvest. Pyongyang simply cannot do both.

In the end, they launch a bunch of "short-range" missiles (essentially ground-based cruise missiles) and cool off.

10. Kim Jong-Un attends opening of "Rungna People's Pleasure Ground"

North Korea's opening of the "pleasure zone" punctuates a relatively quiet summer. The park is another bizarre twist in a country riddled with drugs, starvation, and prostitution. Part propaganda, part distraction, Pyongyang followed the roller coasters up with a "creepy" water park.

11. Kim inspects smartphone factory

Not to be outdone by ... every other modern country ... North Korea enters the smartphone game. But wait: Reports surface that it could all be fake, as the devices "were likely built in China and shipped to the facility Kim Jong-Un visited."

12. Pyongyang shows off farming equipment at military parade 

Nothing says military might like 2nd-rate John Deere rip-offs towing Vietnam-era missile systems. The 65th Anniversary military parade came in the wake of announcements that Kim had his ex-girlfriend executed for appearing in a porn video.

13. Kim's uncle hauled before judge (later executed)

North Korea rounds out 2013 with a good ol' fashioned execution. Kim has fingered his uncle — a top-level military man — as a conspirator in a possible coup. Think tanks and military exercises have been frightfully imagining a collapsed North Korean government all year.

Bonus: Kim Jong-Un laughing at squid bricks

It's probable that he's just laughing at the novelty of so many squid stored in such a way, but also telling. Reports of starvation, instability, and drug trafficking dominate headlines about North Korea.

The walls of squid though, those look pretty stable.

SEE ALSO: A brief and fascinating guide to North Korea's economy

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For years, the South Korean government has been opening its arms to defectors from the North — some 25,000 North Korean defectors are known of in South Korea, having made a journey that is not just arduous but potentially deadly.

But there's a worrying figure likely to cause some embarrassment to Seoul. Of those 25,000, around 800 are currently unaccounted for, Chung Min-uck of the Korea Times reports. These 800 are largely believed to have fled to China and Southeast Asian countries, eventually planning to return home. Some may have already succeeded — in one notable case this year, a man stole a boat and returned to the North for the fourth time.

Why would someone who has escaped from a country like North Korea wish to return? Some answers may be found in an interview with a 64-year-old former defector named Choi that recently appeared in the North Korean press. According to a summary of the interview in the Korea Times, Choi reportedly said that she was treated as a “subhuman” and South Korean society was “cold-blooded” and lacking in human affection.

Of course, it's wise to take anything published in the North Korean press with a grain of salt, but South Korea has confirmed that Choi exists and was a North Korean defector. Worse still, she's just one of 13 "double defectors" who have been interviewed on North Korean television — a powerful message for any North Korean citizens thinking of escaping.

The plight of North Korean refugees in the South has been documented before, and it certainly doesn't sound like an easy life. Last year Gianluca Spezza wrote about the issue for NK News, pointing out that many North Koreans aren't able to adapt to life socially (their accents often mark them out and they struggle with a faster pace of life) and financially (many North Korean defectors end up unemployed in the South, lacking employable skills).

While South Korea could perhaps be doing more to help defectors, North Korea has also taken the initiative. Kim Jong-un has also changed North Korea's policies on "double defectors" according to some reports, not only removing the threat of punishment insisted upon under his father's regime, but allegedly offering 50 million South Korean won ($45,000) and an opportunity to appear on television in Pyongyang.

It might seem strange to us that people would wish to return to a country where you generally know very little of the outside world, you often go hungry, and there's a possibility that you (and three generations of your family) could end up in a labor camp system. But it's an interesting reminder that the politics of life in North Korea are often more complicated than meets the eye.

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NKorean leader boasts of removal of "filth" in new year after execution of his uncle

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is boasting of internal strength in the new year because of the elimination of "factionalist filth"— a reference to his once powerful uncle and mentor, who was purged and executed last month.

Kim made the comments Wednesday in a public speech that will be closely scrutinized for clues about the opaque country's intentions and policy goals.

Analysts are divided about what Jang Song Thaek's execution means, but many believe it shows Kim Jong Un has yet to establish the same absolute power that his father and grandfather enjoyed.

This year's annual New Year's message by the North has added significance because of the elimination of Jang for alleged treason. The purge was one of the biggest political developments in the country in years.

Copyright (2014) Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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The big news out of North Korea today is that, according to the Strait Times, Kim Jong-un fed his uncle to 120 hungry dogs after he was purged from the North Korean leadership.

According to the report, Jang Song-taek was stripped naked and thrown into a cage with his aides, then dogs that had been starved for three days were set on them. The whole execution process apparently took around an hour, during which Kim and 300 other officials watched.

It's an incredible twist to the already incredible story of Jang, once one of the most powerful men in North Korea before he was purged and executed at the tail end of last year. But you have to wonder — could it possibly be true?

To start with, there are many strange aspects to the report. For example, while the Strait Times article has made headlines over the world today, it was actually first published on December 24. Then, while the Singaporean newspaper is a fairly well-respected newspaper in itself, the actual reporting for this story it cites a December 12 article in Wen Wei Po, a Hong Kong-based newspaper supportive of the Chinese government. In studies of the different credibility ratings of Hong Kong newspapers, Wen Wei Po consistently ranks near the bottom of the tables.

Over at NK News, Chad O'Carroll has spoken to a number of North Korea experts about the report and its trustworthiness. The results are decidedly mixed, though one expert, Honorary Senior Research Fellow in Sociology and Modern Korea at the University of Leeds Aidan Foster-Carter, points out that North Korea has released a number of videos of effigies of South Korean officials being ravaged by dogs — so, there may be a kernel of truth to the method at least, though you have to wonder how practical execution of a live human by dog really is.

The sad reality is that this rumor, like many that come out of North Korea, is almost completely unverifiable. Few foreign journalists work inside North Korea. The Associated Press is the only Western news organizations with a bureau there, and Chinese and Russian news agencies are constrained by their own government's policies censorship. North Korea's own reporting is incomplete and suspect.

Thus, many experts view the more absurd stories that come out of North Korea with trepidation. Last year, when there were rumors that Kim may have had his ex-girlfriend (or rather, rumored ex-girlfriend) executed, many North Korea watchers expressed disbelief. "I don't trust these sources," says Steven Herman, formerly Voice of America's Korea correspondent, told Business Insider at the time. "Even mainstream media in South Korea has repeatedly been wrong on these sensationalistic stories originating from the North."

Others pointed to the fact that the girlfriend execution story, and others like it (such as the execution of an army minister by "mortar round" story from earlier in 2013) appear to have originated from the South Korean intelligence services, an obviously biased and not always trustworthy source.

That said, it'd be wrong to discount this story completely. Many foreign observers expressed doubt when rumors of Jang's purge and trial began to circulate and were surprised when the North Korean state news agency published a story not only confirming the purge and adding that Jang had been executed. There are also the widely accepted stories of the horrors from the North Korean prison camp system, some of which are just as horrific and brutal as the story of Jang's execution.

Ultimately, North Korea is a strange place — and sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.

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Fresh from the news that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had his uncle executed (possibly, but probably not, by feeding him to 120 hungry dogs), there's a new question in Seoul: What happened to Kim's aunt?

The Chosun Ilbo reports that a government source says that Kim Kyong-hui, who has not appeared in public recently, may have died either from a heart attack or possibly after committing suicide. The government source was clear, however, that South Korean intelligence sources have not been able to confirm her death, and it is also possible that she went abroad for medical treatment. She has not been in public since September 10, the paper reports, notably missing the anniversary of Kim Jong-il's death on Dec. 17.

Back in December, the Daily NK reported that Kim had left North Korea for medical treatment after her husband's execution. "Her health wasn't great as it was," a source based in North Korea reportedly told the website, "and I hear that she suffered a heart attack when her husband was executed by firing squad."

While the idea of someone being so overcome with grief that they had a heart attack may be compelling, it may not be accurate — other reports in the South Korean press suggest that Kim and Jang had separated after the death of Kim Jong-il, and that she may even have taken the lead in Jang's fall from grace. Reports after her husband's death indicated she had not fallen out of favor with the North Korean leadership, despite her spouse's alleged crimes.

There are some pretty big caveats here of course — while the Chosun Ilbo is generally considered a reliable source, it is also a conservative paper with ties to the Chinese intelligence community, a group who have their own axe to grind, and the Daily NK's reliance on North Korean defectors has led some to question its reliability. Until she appears in public or a North Korean news agency comments, it's unlikely we'll know exactly what has happened to Kim Kyong-hui.

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South Korea's state news agency is reporting that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has ordered the execution of his uncle's entire family, including children.

"Extensive executions have been carried out for relatives of Jang Song-thaek," one source told Yonhap. "All relatives of Jang have been put to death, including even children."

On Dec. 12, Kim Jong-un executed his uncle and his close allies for "acts of treachery," which may have been related to a business dispute.

Yonhap is known for its anti-North Korean bias. And other stories about the purge are probably fake.

Nevertheless, Kim's ruthlessness cannot be discounted.

From Yonhap:

The executed relatives include Jang's sister Jang Kye-sun, her husband and Ambassador to Cuba Jon Yong-jin, and Ambassador to Malaysia Jang Yong-chol, who is a nephew of Jang, as well as his two sons, the sources said.

All of them were recalled to Pyongyang in early December and executed, they said. The sons, daughters and even grandchildren of Jang's two brothers were all executed, they said.

It is unclear if Jang's wife, who is the younger sister of Kim's father, Kim Jong Il, is among those ordered executed.

SEE ALSO: BREMMER: North Korea Is A Regime That Could Implode

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The punch-drunk North Korea is standing on wobbly legs, and America really doesn't want to be ill-prepared for its fall.

That's why Dr. Bruce W. Bennett, a resident North Korea security expert at Rand Corp., presented a brief to the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission Wednesday about how Washington and Seoul should prepare for and mitigate such a collapse.

Of course there are many scary results of Kim Jong Un's fall, what's scarier though is the two paragraphs Bennett wrote to illustrate just how close we are to such an outcome (emphasis ours):

Since his assumption of the top position on the death of his father in December 2011, Kim Jong-un has carried out a series of purges, the most notable of which has been the recent purge and execution of his uncle, Jang Song-thaek.

Given that Kim Jong-un in two years has turned over the North Korean military leadership as many times as his father did in 17 years, there is now more concern that Kim Jong-un could become the target of an assassination or coup by senior military personnel. Many of these personnel already likely fear for their future and the future of their families, given North Korean brutality.

Indeed, the Kim regime even indicated that Jang's execution was as a result of a possible coup. The other general are probably concerned, and Bennett goes so far as to say that regular competition at the Army elite level may be dividing into factions.

Kim's father was no stranger to executions. Nor was he to over-the top celebrations. Yet, Kim's bizarre cocktail of celebrity visits, threats, celebrations, executions and PR stunts has strayed painfully outside of the normal, run of the mill North Korean crazy.

Certainly at the least it has lead leaders and analysts like Bennett to more routinely question the longevity of the nation.

SEE ALSO: Here's a side to North Korea people rarely see

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A report recently released by the RAND Corporation highlights a series of unfortunate events that could follow if North Korea, already on unsteady footing, were suddenly to collapse.

The risk of a collapse has been growing in North Korea ever since Kim Jong-un took power back in December 2011.

As Dr. Bruce W. Bennet, a North Korea security expert of RAND, notes:

Given that Kim Jong-un in two years has turned over the North Korean military leadership as many times as his father did in 17 years, there is now more concern that Kim Jong-un could become the target of an assassination or coup by senior military personnel. Many of these personnel already likely fear for their future and the future of their families, given North Korean brutality.

 We have summarized some of the alarming possibilities mentioned in the RAND report:

1. Competition between rival factions in North Korea could lead to warlordism.

The North Korean regime encourages competition among its secondary rank of generals. There is already fear that this competition is causing the military to divide into factions. If Kim Jong-un was suddenly deposed, the country could be split into hostile military zones. Some territories could also see all out anarchy on the rise, similar to Somalia's current situation.

2. Food hoarding and an even worse humanitarian situation could become the norm.

The sudden collapse of the state could lead to the currency completely failing. If this was the case, many North Korean elites could take to hoarding food in an attempt to recreate their former wealth. This would likely trigger massive famines throughout the country.

3. A new, equally tyrannical, military regime could come to power.

It is impossible to say who could seize control of North Korea if Kim was suddenly out of power. It is likely, though, that whoever would manage to seize power would be just as brutal as Kim was.

4. A South Korean push for reunification could lead to increased organized crime.

If anarchy was ruling in the north, South Korea could see it as the perfect opportunity to strike in the name of reunification. If successful, South Korea would trade one major problem for another. The North Korean army stands at 1 million people who would need to be reintegrated into civil society. Failure to do so could lead to a rise in insurgency and organized crime. The country is, after all, already one of the world's meth hubs.

5. WMDs and nuclear scientists could proliferate to terrorists.

Unlike Iraq, North Korea absolutely has WMDs. If they are not contained immediately after the government falls, they may be sold to the black market and be lost.

6. China could end up in military conflict with South Korea and the United States.

Some within the military in China already have plans to establish a 50 - 100 km buffer zone in North Korea should the regime fall. More warmongering elements within the Chinese military could push for the creation of an entire buffer state, which would lead to military conflict with South Korean and US unification attempts.

7. North Korea could be partitioned into hostile sections, like Germany after WWII.

If an agreement is not made between South Korea and China, both countries may end up seizing as much of North Korea as possible. Instead of going to war, they could instead partition the country and create another demilitarized zone, basically just prolonging the current Korean crisis.

In a report like this, it is hard to find a silver lining. We can only hope that, should this come to pass, Bennet's observations can lead to an increased state of preparedness which could ease any future transitions in the region. 

SEE ALSO: Rare candid photos of North Korea

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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's uncle was shot to death after committing "tremendous crimes against the government," a senior North Korean diplomat told Sky News.

Last month, the North Korean state news agency KCNA announced that Jang Song-thaek had been executed, but didn't provide any details about the manner of execution.

A report in a Chinese newspaper subsequently claimed that Jang had been fed to 120 hungry dogs. But, as many people suspected, that's probably not true.

In a rare interview with Sky News, North Korea's ambassador to the U.K. Hyun Hak-bong said that Jang was put on trial and confessed to what he did wrong.

"According to the laws by the criminal court he was sentenced to death. Well he was shot to death," Hyun said.

Hyun added that the country had "pardoned him on several occasions when he made wrongdoings in the past." Jang reportedly "abused his power" by spending too much money and hindering the national economy.

Hyun also said a report by South Korea's state news agency alleging that Kim ordered the execution of his uncle's entire family was "political propaganda by our enemies" and that it was fabricated. The news agency, Yonhap, is known for its anti-North Korean bias.

SEE ALSO: How North Koreans Discovered The News About Kim Jong-Un Executing His Uncle

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GENEVA (Reuters) - North Korean security chiefs and possibly even Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un himself should face international justice for ordering systematic torture, starvation and mass killings bordering on genocide, U.N. investigators said on Monday.

The investigators told Kim in a letter they were advising the United Nations to refer North Korea to the International Criminal Court (ICC), to ensure any culprits "including possibly yourself" were held accountable.

North Korea said it "categorically and totally" rejected the investigators' report, which it called "a product of politicization of human rights on the part of EU and Japan in alliance with the U.S. hostile policy".

The unprecedented public warning and rebuke to a ruling head of state by a U.N. Commission of Inquiry is likely to complicate efforts to persuade the isolated country to rein in its nuclear weapons program and belligerent confrontations with South Korea and the West.

The U.N. investigators said they had also told Kim's main ally China that it might be "aiding and abetting crimes against humanity" by sending migrants and defectors back to North Korea, where they faced torture and execution - a charge that Chinese officials had rebutted.

As referral to the ICC is seen as a dim hope, given China's likely veto of any such move by Western powers in the U.N. Security Council, thoughts are also turning to setting up some form of special tribunal on North Korea, diplomatic and U.N. sources told Reuters.

"We've collected all the testimony and can't just stop and wait 10 years. The idea is to sustain work," said one.

"REMINISCENT OF NAZI ATROCITIES"

Michael Kirby, chairman of the independent Commission of Inquiry, told Reuters the crimes the team had cataloged in a 372-page report were reminiscent of those committed by Nazis during World War Two.

"Some of them are strikingly similar," he said.

"Testimony was given ... in relation to the political prison camps of large numbers of people who were malnourished, who were effectively starved to death and then had to be disposed of in pots burned and then buried ... It was the duty of other prisoners in the camps to dispose of them," he said.

The independent investigators' report, the size of a telephone directory, listing atrocities including murder, torture, rape, abductions, enslavement, starvation and executions.

"The gravity, scale and nature of these violations reveal a state that does not have any parallel in the contemporary world," it said.

The findings came out of a year-long investigation involving public testimony by defectors, including former prison camp guards, at hearings in South Korea, Japan, Britain and the United States.

Defectors included Shin Dong-hyuk, who gave harrowing accounts of his life and escape from a prison camp. As a 13-year-old, he informed a prison guard of a plot by his mother and brother to escape and both were executed, according to a book on his life called "Escape from Camp 14".

North Korea's diplomatic mission in Geneva dismissed the findings shortly before they were made public. "We will continue to strongly respond to the end to any attempt of regime-change and pressure under the pretext of 'human rights protection'," it said a statement sent to Reuters.

"DELIBERATE STARVATION"

The abuses were mainly perpetrated by officials in structures that ultimately reported to Kim - state security, the Ministry of People's Security, the army, the judiciary and Workers' Party of Korea, according to the investigators, led by Kirby, a retired Australian chief justice.

"It is open to inference that the officials are, in some instances, acting under your personal control," Kirby wrote in the three-page letter to Kim published as part of the report.

The team recommended targeted U.N. sanctions against civil officials and military commanders suspected of the worst crimes. It did not reveal any names, but said that it had compiled a database of suspects from evidence and testimony.

Pyongyang has used food as "a means of control over the population" and "deliberate starvation" to punish political and ordinary prisoners, according to the team of 12 investigators.

Pervasive state surveillance quashed all dissent. Christians were persecuted and women faced blatant discrimination. People were sent to prison camps without hope of release.

The investigators were not able to confirm allegations of "gruesome medical testing of biological and chemical weapons" on disabled people and political prisoners, but said they wanted to investigate further.

North Korea's extermination of political prisoners over the past five decades might amount to genocide, the report said, although the legal definition of genocide normally refers to the killing of large parts of a national, ethnic or religious group.

North Korean migrants and defectors returned by China regularly faced torture, detention, summary execution and forced abortion, said the report.

Kirby warned China's charge d'affaires in Geneva Wu Haitao in a Dec 16 letter that the forced repatriations might amount to "the aiding and abetting (of) crimes against humanity", it said.

Wu, in a reply also published in the report, said that the fact that some of the illegal North Korean migrants regularly managed to get back into China after their return showed that the allegations of torture were not true.

"The DPRK (North Korea) has been looked at by the Security Council solely as a nuclear proliferation issue," Julie de Rivero of campaign group Human Rights Watch told Reuters.

"This (report) is putting human rights in the DPRK on the map, which it wasn't before, and hopefully will put the spotlight on the U.N. and international community to respond to not just the security threat," she added.

(Reporting by Tom Miles and Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

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To coincide with a new United Nations report calling for an investigation into crimes against humanity in North Korean prison camps, Human Rights Watch has released a video featuring horrific tales from the gulags.

Prison camp survivors describe the systematic use of beatings, rape, food deprivation, forced abortions, and public executions as means to control those kept there.

As a former guard told the U.N.: “Inmates in the [political prison camps] are not treated like human beings. They are never meant to be released [...] their record is permanently erased. They are supposed to die in the camp from hard labour. And we were trained to think that those inmates are enemies. So we didn’t perceive them as human beings.”

Since images from the camps are scare, drawings provide the best approximation of what it's like. While the U.N. report featuresdrawings based on the recollections of Kim Kwang-il, the HRW video shows drawings from former prisoner Kim Hye-Sook, who was incarcerated at the age of 13. These and horrific quotes from the video can be seen below.

"They didn't tell us anything. When we entered the camp, there were ten rules and the first was to not ask about your crime. Because of this rule, the people inside never knew what their crime was," said Kim.

"There was a position in which we all had to sit. We'd put our hands behind our backs and kneel, then raise our heads and open our mouths. They'd spit phlegm into our mouths. If we swallowed, they wouldn't hit us," Kim said.Ahn Myung-chul, a former prison guard, describes a typical public execution, where a prisoner is shot at a stake. "The first shots strike the head, the second the chest, and the third the belly," Ahn said. "If family members or friends of the condemned cry at the execution, they are arrested on the spot and sent to the detention center to be executed."As more survivors tell their stories from the prison camps, the world is finally realizing the brutality of the North Korean regime. Below is a picture of Kim and a map of the camp she drew.

Here's the full, shocking video:

SEE ALSO: Kim Jong-Un could be charged with crimes against humanity

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North Korea will hold fair and open parliamentary elections this weekend, giving citizens a chance to decide which candidate will best represent their interests for the next five years.

Ha, not really.

It's true that North Korea really is holding parliamentary elections this weekend, and, par for the course for that nation's politics, they're kind of horrifying. This is how it's going down. 

North Korean Government

Just because North Korea is a totalitarian regime doesn't mean it don't have a political structure. Technically, the regime is still led by deceased founder Kim Il-sung, who serves in spirit form as the country's Eternal President. The country's Supreme Leader deals with North Korea's corporeal affairs, like carrying out crimes against humanity and sentencing political advisors to death. Kim Jong-un has been North Korea's supreme leader since his father, Kim Jong-il, passed away in 2011. 

This weekend's elections will instruct voters from 687 constituencies to select representative deputies, who will serve on the Supreme People's Assembly (SPA) — the country's main legislative body — for the next five years. According to the North Korean Constitution, this is how the state is structured (quotes from an unofficial translation): 

On the national level: 

Supreme People's Assembly: "The Supreme People's Assembly is the highest organ of State power in the DPRK. The SPA exercises legislative power. When the SPA is not in session, the SPA Presidium also can exercise legislative power." 

The presidium is a select group of SPA members who serve as Kim's inner circle, advising on political decisions. 

National Defense Commission: "The NDC is accountable to the SPA" 

Cabinet: "The Cabinet is the administrative and executive body of the highest organ of State power and a general state management organ. The Cabinet consists of the Premier, vice premiers, chairmen of commissions, ministers and some other necessary members." 

The Cabinet is also accountable to the SPA.

On the local level: 

Local People's Assembly: "Provincial (or municipality directly under the central authority), municipal (district), and county local people’s assemblies are local sovereign power organs. The LPA consists of deputies elected on the principle of universal, equal and direct suffrage by secret ballot." 

Local People's Committee: "Provincial (or municipality directly under the central authority), municipal (district), and county local people’s committees are local sovereign power organs when the corresponding LPAs are in recess, and are administrative executive organs of local sovereignty."

The LPC is "subordinate" to the Cabinet. 

Public Procurators' Office and Court: "Justice is administered by the Central Court, the Court of the province (or municipality directly under the central authority), municipal and county courts and the Special Court."

Believe it or not, the court is "accountable to the SPA, and to the SPA Presidium when the SPA is in recess."

Of course, the  Constitution could have saved a lot of space by referring to the country's political structure as it actually exists — a poor, brutal dictatorship that bends to the will of a single dictator.  

How Elections Work

If you suspect that any division in power or nod to democracy in North Korea is a sham, you're right. "Voting" in North Korea is a mandatory exercise, which serves as both a census and way for officials to keep tabs on the public. The Economist explains:

[Voters] are presented with a single candidate in the district where they live. These candidates are chosen by the Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland, the governing coalition, which is controlled by the Workers' Party. There is only one box to tick. Abstaining or voting no would be a dangerous act of treason, given that voting takes place in booths that do not provide any secrecy, and dissenting votes must be posted into a separate ballot box. In this way the population (everyone over 17 is obliged to vote) endorses the 687 deputies in the SPA, a body that, in any case, is merely a rubber-stamp parliament that is rarely convened. In practice the supreme leader, Kim Jong Un, calls the shots, supported by the Presidium, a smaller group of senior officials.  

So "voting" is a very generous way to describe the process. This year, Kim is "running" in Mount Paektu, a mountain town on the Chinese border. Mount Paektu is an inactive volcano where Kim Il-sung was born, according to legend. Kim could use the position in parliament to enact changes within the SPA and possibly alter the constitution.

Consequences for not voting are severe.  According to the Telegraph, North Koreans must register one month in advance to participate in the mandatory activity. Defector Mina Yoon told the publication that "the government checks the list of voters and if your name is not on the list, they will investigate it. It is often during [an] election that the government finds out about defectors." She adds that defectors in China return to the DPRK just to register and vote, so that the government won't harm their families in retaliation for the defection.  

The Campaign

In keeping with North Korean tradition, the state-run media is covering the upcoming elections as if they were a patriotic celebration. The English site for KCNA has posted a number of articles ahead of Sunday's elections which describe festive anticipation. One article, titled "DPRK Seethed with Election Atmosphere," notes that "election atmosphere is gaining momentum in the DPRK with the approach of March 9, a day of election for deputies to the 13th Supreme People's Assembly (SPA)."

The story continues: 

Seen in streets, public places, industrial establishments and co-op farms are "Let us all participate in election of deputies to SPA!", "Let us all consolidate our revolutionary power as firm as a rock!" and other slogans... Meanwhile, agitation activities are going on to encourage citizens to take active part in the election with high political enthusiasm and labor feats, amid the playing of "Song of Election."

Another article exclaims that the upcoming elections have invigorated the country's poets: 

"Going by the Name of Mt. Paektu", "He Is Our Deputy", "Cheers of Korea" and other poems vividly represent the immutable will of all service personnel and people to remain loyal to the Songun revolutionary leadership of Marshal Kim Jong Un. Among the poems are "The Billows of Emotion and Happiness", "We Break into Cheers from the Bottom of Our Heart" and "People's Joy" that represent the great honor and happiness of the citizens of the DPRK having another peerless great man at the helm.

Kim also graciously accepted his self-nomination, writing in an open letter that "I feel grateful for your expression of deep trust in me and extend warm thanks from the bottom of my heart." We can't wait to read his victory speech. 

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With a perfect 100 percent voter turnout in his district, Kim Jong-un was 'elected' as North Korea's supreme leader after also grabbing 100 percent of the vote.

 The news, straight from the government that oversaw the election, wasn't a surprise to Kim, or the rest of the world, as he was the only name on the ballot.

"Voters in the election have no choice who to vote for — there is only one candidate's name on the ballot for each district. Instead, they have the choice of voting yes or no, and according to official accounts virtually all choose yes," the AP reports. 

When faced with the prospect of gulags or punishment from a guy who has no problem killing off his own uncle, it's hard to see why anyone would want to vote no. Nevertheless, the state-run media is running with it as outpouring of love and devotion their young ruler. "This is an expression of all the service personnel and people's absolute support and profound trust in supreme leader Kim Jong Un as they single-minded remain loyal to him," the Korean Central News Agency reported. 

But even if these "elections" are pointless, they do serve a purpose for the North Korean regime. It allows them to keep tabs on the country and its citizens. The election "is also used as an unofficial census, allowing the government to check on the whereabouts of its citizens. Defectors say that some North Koreans return to the country for the election to avoid the state learning of their absence," the Wall Street Journal reports. 

North Korea's elections take place every five years. 

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Brainwashing the next generation is a big deal in North Korea, where two former supreme leaders authored propaganda-filled children's books, as uncovered by Sydney University researcher Christopher Richardson.

Kim Jong-il, father of current supreme leader Jong-un, is credited with writing "Boys Wipe Out Bandits," a story about the "redemptive power of ultra-violence," Richardson wrote in "Still Quite Fun To Read: An Introduction to North Korean Children's Literature."

Kim Il-sung, founder of the dynasty, is acknowledged as the author of the anti-American fable "The Butterfly and the Cock," which depicts an angry rooster outwitted by a virtuous butterfly, in an "unsubtle analogy for North Korea’s existential struggle with the United States of America."

As far as Richardson can tell, Jong-un has not yet written a children's book but anticipates a title soon, The Guardian reports.

It's funny until you remember that North Korea is committing human rights violations on par with Nazi Germany, according to a U.N. report that pressed for international action.

Below are screen shots of a recent state television animated adaptation of "The Butterfly and the Cock."

A bunch of butterflies are working to pollinate the world, when all of a sudden ...

A bully arrives and begins to harass the butterflies. It is about to hurt one of them but stops ...

... because another butterfly starts hurling insults and pollen at him.

The angry cock ruins the butterflies' garden by stomping on all the plants.

The heroic butterfly pesters the cock and leads him on a chase ...

... that ends when the cock stumbles off a cliff ...

... and falls into a pool of water and drowns.

Everyone celebrates.

Below is the full video:

SEE ALSO: North Korea is as bad as the Nazis, says UN; 'no excuse' for refusing to act

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The official described how assassination attempts on Kim Jong-il, the country's leader until three years ago, drove the country's feared internal security apparatus to take elaborate measures against suspected plots, real or imagined - including an attempt by a rogue army unit to launch missiles against Pyongyang.

The official, who asked to be named only as "Mr K", said he had personal knowledge of two assassination attempts on Kim Jong-il, who ruled North Korea from 1994 until his death in December 2011.

In one attempt, a lone gunman with an automatic weapon attempted to shoot him, but was captured before firing. In another, a would-be assassin driving a 20-ton lorry rammed his motorcade but failed to kill Kim Jong-il, whose car was in a convoy of identical limousines and was not among those damaged.

In an extraordinarily rare behind-closed-doors briefing, the official also detailed two attempted coups against the regime, following uprisings in the Korean People's Army, especially among the officers who had been trained in the former Soviet Union.

He described how North Korean officers who had graduated from Moscow's Frunze military academy had been persuaded by Russian officials to feed intelligence back to the Kremlin.

In one plot, a group of officers hoping to provoke a Russian intervention against the regime planned to stage a bomb attack on the Russian consulate in the North Korean city of Chongjin. In another, a north eastern army unit planned a missile strike on key targets in Pyongyang. Both plots, said Mr K, were discovered before they took place.

Mr K's claims cannot be directly verified, but much of what he said is supported by other sources. He requested that the directorate that he worked for and his current activities in South Korea remain secret.

Both accounts appear to be supported by circumstantial evidence. North Korea watchers have noted that in 1994, a group of officers who had studied in Russia were rounded up and imprisoned, in what became known as the "Frunze Affair".

Then in 1997, for reasons that were at the time unexplained, the regime sent troops into the headquarters of the army's Sixth Corps, prompting firefights and arrests. The corps was subsequently disbanded.

Describing the country's internal security system, Mr K - who fled the country in 2005 - said that even the most senior cadres and army generals were routinely monitored, often by agents posing as their chauffeurs, and their activities reported to the Supreme Leader in weekly bulletins.

He also said the regime's crackdown on private markets had led to a flurry of dissident graffiti and pamphlets, with messages such as "How are we supposed to survive?" scrawled on walls.

So suspicious were Pyongyang officials that when a circus in the North Korean capital burned down a day before Kim Jong-il's birthday, it was believed to be an anti-regime protest, he said.

The country's notorious gulags, meanwhile, are run by a unit with the chilling cover name of "Farm Guidance Directorate" - appropriately enough, said Mr K, because the prison-camp inmates are "less than human".

In the "total control" camps, where political criminals are sent, "once you check in, you do not check out," he said. "Even dead bodies do not leave the total control zones."

The two assassination attempts on shortly before he took over as leader from his father, Kim Il-sung, help to explain his subsequent paranoia, and his preference for traveling by private, armored, train, the intelligence official said.

He described an incident in which Kim Jong-il was talking with senior officials inside a ruling-party compound when there was an electricity blackout.

Instantly, bodyguards tackled all the officials to the ground and surrounded the leader.

Whether the plots were real, or imagined by a paranoid regime, is unclear. "I would be sceptical unless you have a chain of collaborative evidence, and in a state which applies torture, you can create collaborative evidence by skillful application of the hot iron," said Andrei Lankov, a North Korean expert at Seoul's Kookmin University. "But this does not mean conspiracies did not exist."

Unlike most defectors, who remain slight because of years of malnutrition and who are often quiet and nervous, Mr K has a robust build and appears to be in his late 40s. He spoke confidently, using expansive body language.

He had little information about the country's current leader, Kim Jong-un, he said, but speculated that he would be difficult to assassinate. "Anyone meeting the supreme leader is patted down, everyone," he said. "I would guess even family members."

During his public appearances, the younger Kim is protected by a triple cordon of bodyguards, state security agents and regular police. The locations he visits are carefully vetted in advance.

Mr K said that while North Korean agents are present among South Korea's 25,000-strong community of defectors, he does not fear assassination.

"I do not raise my voice against the regime," he said, though he admits he always keeps an eye out when taking public transport, and is wary if he sees another vehicle following his in traffic.

Relaxing at a late-night Seoul food stall after his briefing, Mr K admitted that he misses some things about Pyongyang: friends, colleagues and Korea's native grain spirit, soju.

North Korean soju, he opined, is far stronger than its South Korean counterpart - which, he growled, tastes "like water".

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A North Korean official has been executed with a flame-thrower, South Korean media has reported, amid a crackdown on loyalists of Kim Jong-un's purged uncle.

As many as 11 senior party officials with close ties to Jang Song-taek have apparently recently been executed or sent to political prison camps.

Mr Jang was publicly purged in December and executed after being found guilty of corruption and activities that ran counter to the policies of the Workers' Party of Korea. The regime has shut down the department within the Workers' Party that Mr Jang previously headed.

O Sang-hon, a deputy minister at the Ministry of Public Security was "executed by flame-thrower," a source told South Korea's Chosun Ilbo newspaper.

Mr O was executed because he had followed Mr Jang's instructions to turn the ministry into a personal security division to help safeguard his business dealings, the paper reported.

The report could not immediately be confirmed, although previous executions have suggested that the North Korean leadership can be inventive when it comes to ridding itself of anyone who has fallen out of favour.

In 2012, a vice minister of the army was executed with a mortar round for reportedly drinking and carousing during the official mourning period after Kim Jong-il's death in December of the previous year.

On the orders of Kim Jong-un to leave "no trace of him behind, down to his hair," South Korean media reported, Kim Chol was forced to stand on a spot that had been targeted for a mortar round and "obliterated".

With the purges apparently continuing, there is concern in Seoul at further possible instability in Pyongyang, coupled with a renewed belligerence being demonstrated by the North.

The South Korean military has launched an intensive search across large areas of the country after a third unmanned reconnaissance drone was handed into authorities over the weekend. The aircraft was more than 80 miles south of the heavily fortified border.

The drone was spotted by locals last year but they only recognised its significance after the recovery of two similar remote-controlled aircraft in recent weeks.

The defence ministry in Seoul has promised to deploy new defensive measures specifically to destroy spy drones.

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North Korea has diversified its business model for earning hard currency, shifting from a reliance on manufacturing drugs and counterfeiting foreign bank notes to smuggling products from endangered species, fake pharmaceuticals and counterfeit cigarettes.

The details of Pyongyang's methods of earning the funds it needs to pay for its nuclear and missile programmes are spelled out in a study released on Tuesday by the Washington-based Committee for Human Rights in North Korea.

The 115-page report says Pyongyang has been producing narcotics and smuggling them abroad through the diplomatic bag and printing high-quality forgeries of foreign currency since the mid-1970s, all part of the Kim regime's "fundamental strategic objective" of self-preservation.

There has been a shift in recent years, however, with the emergence of a privatized market economy that the authors describe as "a criminal one that is feeding off the suffering and deprivation of the population".

The smuggling by North Korean diplomats of rhino horn and ivory also appears to be a more recent development, the report says, with a North Korean citizen arrested in 2012 in Mozambique as he attempted to smuggle 130 pieces of ivory, with an estimated value of $36,000, out of the country.

Similar seizures in Kenya, Russia and France totaled more than 1.8 tons of ivory.

There has been a substantial increase in North Korea's output of counterfeit cigarettes since 2002, with a container of fake Marlboro cigarettes impounded in Singapore after arriving from North Korea via the South Korean port of Busan.

Similar seizures took place in South Africa, Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines, while in late 2006, 3 million cartons of counterfeit cigarettes - with a street value of £3.5 million -were found by Greek customs authorities aboard North Korean-flagged ships.

North Korean officials were caught in 2004 smuggling 150,000 tablets of the sedative Clonazepam in Egypt, while embassy employees from Bulgaria were detained in Turkey carrying half a million tablets of the synthetic stimulant Captagon, with an estimated value of $7 million.

North Korea has also been accused of manufacturing fake Viagra pills.

The report claims that North Korean officials have also engaged in smuggling gems over international borders, trafficking in DVDs. smuggling used cars and even selling pornography in Finland.

SEE ALSO: North Korean defector explains what it was like to grow up thinking Kim Jong-il was 'a god'

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Police said Tuesday they had intervened after North Korean embassy officials reportedly told a London hairdresser to take down a discount haircuts advert featuring leader Kim Jong-Un.

Mo Nabbach told the London Evening Standard newspaper that two officials from the Stalinist state's mission took pictures of the M&M Hair Academy in Ealing, west London.

They then ordered him to remove the "disrespectful" poster, he said.

The poster featured a large picture of Kim's distinctive short-back-and-sides hairdo with the slogan: read: "Bad hair day? 15 percent off all gent cuts through the month of April."

"I told them this is England and not North Korea and told them to get their lawyers," the newspaper quoted Nabbach as saying.

"The two guys were wearing suits and they were very serious. It was very threatening."

Nabbach, who is also a fashion photographer, said he had since removed the offending picture.

Police confirmed that they had stepped in to resolve the issue.

"Officers spoke to both parties involved and no offence was disclosed," a Metropolitan Police spokesman told AFP.

There was no immediate response from the North Korean embassy, located in a suburban London house less than two miles (three kilometres) from the salon.

The Kim family has ruled the country for more than six decades with an iron fist and a pervasive personality cult.

Kim Jong-Un's haircut is strikingly similar to that of his grandfather Kim Il-Sung, reinforcing efforts by the young leader to project himself more in the image of the state's founder leader than his father Kim Jong-Il.

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Rare new photographs of Kim Jong-un as a young boy have emerged during a concert for the North Korean air force.

Pictures showing the 31-year-old North Korean leader as a chubby toddler, saluting while in uniform, were shown on KCTV, the country's state broadcaster.

Other photographs showed him first as a young boy, then as a rotund teenager, at the controls of an aeroplane.

Until now, only a handful of pictures of Kim as a young boy have been seen, one showing him with his mother, Ko Yong-hui, and one a seeming passport picture, in which he has a bowl haircut.

Only one photograph is known to exist from his days as a student, which shows him on what appears to be a school trip with fellow pupils at the International School of Berne, in Switzerland.

Kim kept his identity secret from students and teachers. Using name of Pak Un, Swiss authorities were told that Kim was the son of an employee at North Korea’s embassy when he enrolled in August 1998.

Friends have said he was “obsessed” with basketball and showed “absolutely no interest” in politics.

The new pictures were projected onto a screen behind an orchestra playing a televised concert for the air force.

As the photographs emerged, South Korea warned that the North could be planning a fourth nuclear test to ramp up tensions ahead of President Obama's upcoming visit to Seoul.

"Our military is currently detecting a lot of activity in and around the Punggye-ri nuclear test site," said Kim Min-seok, a spokesman for the Defence ministry. He added that North Korea is now able to conduct a nuclear test "at any moment".

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