Kim Jong Un’s uncle dragged away from meeting, erased from documentary

KCTV / Yonhap via EPA/
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's uncle Jang Song Thaek, center, is arrested during an enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party in Pyongyang on Sunday.

KCTV / Yonhap via AFP - Getty Images

Jang Song Thaek was taken from his chair by two police officials.

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By Henry Austin, NBC News contributor

This is the dramatic moment showing the once-powerful uncle of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un being hauled away by police from a political meeting.

The stunning purge of Jang Song Thaek, 67, once considered the force behind the young leader, delivered a chilling message: No one is beyond Kim's reach, not even family. 

North Korean state-run news agency KCNA announced Monday that he had “led a dissolute and depraved life” and said he had been dismissed for a string of criminal acts including corruption, womanizing and drug-taking.

"Jang and his followers committed criminal acts baffling imagination and they did tremendous harm to our party and revolution," the agency said in a report following a meeting of the ruling Workers' Party politburo on Sunday.

Kim Jong Un attended and "guided" the meeting which decided to dismiss Jang from all his posts and expel him from the Workers' Party, KCNA said. 

"Affected by the capitalist way of living, Jang committed irregularities and corruption and led a dissolute and depraved life," the news agency added, saying the decision to remove him was also based on his mismanagement of the country's financial system and corruption. 

"Jang pretended to uphold the party and leader but was engrossed in such factional acts (such) as dreaming different dreams and involving himself in double-dealing behind the scenes," KCNA said.