(10 Dec 2013) Pyongyang residents reacted on Tuesday to the announcement that their leader's uncle, long considered the country's second in command, had been sacked.
"I was hardly able to contain my indignation about the manoeuvres of Jang Song Taek group challenging our party," said one Pyongyang resident, Ri Myong Song.
Kim Jong Un's uncle, Jang Song Thaek, fell from grace when capped by his dramatic arrest at a party meeting on Sunday, facing allegations from corruption to womanising.
"How dare he betray the man's elementary conscience, morality and faith?" added another Choe Son Ok resident.
This was far from Kim's first purge.
Several defence ministers and army chiefs have been replaced as the Workers' Party has asserted control over the military after 17 years rule under late leader Kim Jong Il.
But it is the ouster of Jang, who had been considered North Korea's second-most-powerful figure that sends the strongest signal to anyone seeking to challenge Kim Jong Un.
Jang, 67, had occupied a privileged and yet precarious spot within the inner circle.
He is the husband of Kim Kyong Hui, the only daughter of late President Kim Il Sung, younger sister to Kim Jong Il and aunt to Kim Jong Un.
Jang was seen as a regent figure as Kim Jong Un was being groomed to succeed his father.
He rose in party and military ranks alongside his baby-faced nephew, often dressed in a trim white general's uniform and standing within arm's length of Kim on field visits and at state events.
Worries remain over whether the expulsion of such a senior figure could instead lead to less stability and open up the possibility of a power struggle.
The confirmation that Pyongyang had removed Jang and purged his group was seen by some analysts as a warning against dissent.
It came about a week after South Korea's spy agency said that two of Jang's closest assistants had been executed for corruption.
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