On the Execution by Kim Jong-un of His Uncle Jang Song-thaek for Dreaming "Different Dreams".

Sometimes, you just don't need a drone.

Jon Everard, fromer British ambassador to North Korea, reports in on the execution of Kim Jong-un's uncle:

Never before has North Korea purged someone so publicly as it has just eliminated Kim Jong-un's uncle, Jang Song-thaek.

In the past purges were usually conducted in secret. But this time not only has the detailed political indictment against Jang been published (in the form of the report of the Politburo meeting on Sunday at which he was dismissed) but his actual eviction from a party meeting was broadcast on North Korean television.

Then, early today, came the brutal climax: the announcement on official state television that he had been executed for treason, branded "despicable human scum".

In making this very public display of ruthlessness Kim Jong-un probably had three objectives. Firstly, nobody in North Korea can doubt now that he, and he alone, is in charge. Nor can anybody doubt that he is utterly ruthless in removing absolutely anybody who might, in the colourful language of the indictment, "dream different dreams".

If even the immensely powerful Jang Song-thaek, Kim's own uncle, can be brought so low and dispatched so swiftly, then nobody is safe.

Secondly, Kim Jong-un has told his country – and the world – that not only Jang the man, but also the vision that he stood for, has been purged.

Jang Song-thaek seems to have argued for a less closed North Korea, one that embraced trade and encouraged inward investment. He was in charge of several (perhaps all) of North Korea's planned special economic zones (an experiment copied from the early days of China's transformation) and was regarded as a strong supporter of economic reform.

Read the rest here.