In case you did not hear it, read it, etc. Kim Jong Un had another execution show a few days ago. This time the execution featured the DPRK Defense Chief--who had the temerity to fall asleep at a late night dinner and even more brass to argue with Kim Jong Un in a defense council meeting. What is curious about this particular execution is the means--anti-aircraft gun.
I have been a student of politically motivated violence for a little over 20 years now. As such I have developed a slightly off-kilter fascination with the number/unique ways in which human beings have chosen to be destructive of the material world, the natural world, and particularly of each other. Though I remain unsurprised by the darkness of humanity, considering it to be a normal outcome of the fallen state of mankind since the disastrous ending in the Garden of Eden, I am still intrigued on occasion by the means employed for destructive ends.
The Kim family that runs the DPRK is describable as a feudal family stuck in the mentality of the 1400s controlling a semi-modern country, or a extreme form of traditional Korean Confucianism wedded to 1930s Stalinism plus a form of insanity (hats off to RM for that last one). Kim Jong Un, the current leader, is no stranger to variation in how to execute those he disfavors (remember the uncle sent to the dogs) and has now added a new way to do executions. Simply utilizing a firing squad with battle rifles, or machine guns was not good enough. Nope, you need to use one of these:
Yes, you are looking at a ZPU-4, which fires a 14.5 mm round (from quad barrels each capable of firing 600 rounds per minute. Good discussion of the weapon and method of this execution is available in a piece found in Human Rights North Korea Insider (HRNKInsider) by Greg Scarlatoiu (Committee for Human Rights in North Korea) and Joseph Bermudez Jr. (AllSource Analysis, Inc.). You can read their piece here. The first image below is a .50 caliber round commonly used in large sniper rifles and in the M2 heavy machine gun (Ma Deuce is still going strong). The second is the 14.5x114mm round used in the ZPU-4.
Just think about the destructiveness of one single .50 caliber round, then multiply this by the use of six quad barrel 14.5x114mm machine guns. For my two cents, this incident just reaffirms my decision to place Kim Jong Un along side his father and grandfather in the category of human beings simply referred to as: Bastards.
I have been a student of politically motivated violence for a little over 20 years now. As such I have developed a slightly off-kilter fascination with the number/unique ways in which human beings have chosen to be destructive of the material world, the natural world, and particularly of each other. Though I remain unsurprised by the darkness of humanity, considering it to be a normal outcome of the fallen state of mankind since the disastrous ending in the Garden of Eden, I am still intrigued on occasion by the means employed for destructive ends.
The Kim family that runs the DPRK is describable as a feudal family stuck in the mentality of the 1400s controlling a semi-modern country, or a extreme form of traditional Korean Confucianism wedded to 1930s Stalinism plus a form of insanity (hats off to RM for that last one). Kim Jong Un, the current leader, is no stranger to variation in how to execute those he disfavors (remember the uncle sent to the dogs) and has now added a new way to do executions. Simply utilizing a firing squad with battle rifles, or machine guns was not good enough. Nope, you need to use one of these:
Yes, you are looking at a ZPU-4, which fires a 14.5 mm round (from quad barrels each capable of firing 600 rounds per minute. Good discussion of the weapon and method of this execution is available in a piece found in Human Rights North Korea Insider (HRNKInsider) by Greg Scarlatoiu (Committee for Human Rights in North Korea) and Joseph Bermudez Jr. (AllSource Analysis, Inc.). You can read their piece here. The first image below is a .50 caliber round commonly used in large sniper rifles and in the M2 heavy machine gun (Ma Deuce is still going strong). The second is the 14.5x114mm round used in the ZPU-4.
Just think about the destructiveness of one single .50 caliber round, then multiply this by the use of six quad barrel 14.5x114mm machine guns. For my two cents, this incident just reaffirms my decision to place Kim Jong Un along side his father and grandfather in the category of human beings simply referred to as: Bastards.
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