Welcome to North Korea, where making a very public mistake can potentially cost you your life.
That’s at least the worry for two senior officials involved with the sinking of a destroyer during its botched loss last month. According to multiple reports, the two men have been erased from state photos — and many fear they’ve been killed.
The ship was the second of a new class of destroyer to be launched by the hermit state from the shipyard in Chongjin — only things didn’t go as planned, as indicated by the fact they tried to cover it up with tarps.
And heads weren’t going to roll figuratively, but literally. The state-run Korea Central News Agency described the damage as “not serious” (going to disagree there) but “an unpardonable criminal act” (which, in North Korea, it definitely is).
Kim Jong-un, who was in attendance and watching when the sinking happened, said that the act “severely damaged the [country’s] dignity and pride” and resulted from “absolute carelessness, irresponsibility and unscientific empiricism.”
Now, according to the New York Post, two of the high-ranking officials involved have been retconned out of existence in old photos — a clear sign that wherever they are, things ain’t good.
Admr. Kim Myong Sil and Hong Kil Ho — who are responsible for operating the shipyard in Chongjin — have been “expunged from the North Korean photographic record on orders of Kim — who blames them for the hermit kingdom’s inability to launch,” the Post reported on June 18.
Hellbound and Down 