North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspects a military factory in this undated picture released by the Korean Central News Agency on Friday, May 17. North Korea launched several short-range guided missiles into the sea off the Korean Peninsula's east coast May 18, South Korea's semi-official news agency Yonhap cited the South Korean Defense Ministry as saying.
Kim Jong Un and North Korea's military
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Suh Sang-ki, a lawmaker in South Korea's governing Saenuri Party who sits on a parliamentary intelligence committee, said the decision to kill Jang suggests Kim's power is weaker than that of his father.
In a statement issued after a phone briefing from South Korea's National Intelligence Service, Suh said the execution appeared to be a pre-emptive effort to prevent any internal unrest over Jang's ouster.
Analysts said North Korea was likely to continue with the provocative moves under Kim that have strained its relations with South Korea, the United States and others.
"I think there's going to be a clear amount of brinksmanship," said Yun of the Ploughshares Fund. "I think if we continue to wait for him to do things, he's going to continue to shoot missiles, and he'll probably at some point decide to test a nuclear weapon."
Missile and nukes
North Korea carried out a long-range rocket launch a year ago and an underground nuclear test, its third so far, in February. The U.N. sanctions that followed were met by a barrage of threatening rhetoric from Pyongyang, directed at South Korea and the United States, which ratcheted up tensions in the region.
The situation has calmed since, and the North and South have resumed dialogue. The two sides have agreed to meet next week in their joint industrial zone on the North's side of the border.
But with the anniversary of Kim Jong Il's death, last year's rocket launch and now Jang's execution, Seoul is keeping a close eye on Pyongyang's actions, officials said.
The South Korean defense ministry said Friday that no unusual activities by the North Korean military had been detected.
"December has always been a month in which something happens with North Korea," Cha said. "And we're only halfway through it."
In Washington, a State Department official acknowledged having seen the report of Jang's execution. "While we cannot independently verify this development, we have no reason to doubt the official KCNA report," deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf said in a statement, referring to North Korea's state news agency.
"If confirmed, this is another example of the extreme brutality of the North Korean regime. We are following developments in North Korea closely and consulting with our allies and partners in the region," Harf added.
China, whose senior officials were considered to have close ties to Jang, described the recent developments as North Korea's "internal affairs."
Beijing hopes and believes that relations between the two countries "will continue (to) advance healthily and steadily," Hong Lei, a foreign ministry spokesman, said at a regular briefing Friday.
The official North Korean report on the execution said a special military tribunal had been held Thursday against Jang, who was accused of trying to overthrow the state "by all sorts of intrigues and despicable methods."
It added, "All the crimes committed by the accused were proved in the course of hearing and were admitted by him."
Once his guilt was established, Jang was immediately executed, it said.
The KCNA report described Jang as a "traitor for all ages" and "worse than a dog," saying he had betrayed his party and leader.
Jang and his allies were accused of double-dealing behind the scenes, "dreaming different dreams" and selling the country's resources at cheap prices, thereby threatening North Korea's economic development, according to a KCNA statement this week.
"Jang desperately worked to form a faction within the party by creating illusion about him and winning those weak in faith and flatterers to his side," the statement said.
It also accused Jang of womanizing, drug use, gambling, eating at expensive restaurants and undergoing medical treatment in a foreign country.
Friday's KCNA report said Jang distributed pornographic pictures among his confidants and took at least 4.6 million euros ($6.3 million) "from his secret coffers and squandered it in 2009 alone."
CNN's Elise Labott, Jim Sciutto and Paula Hancocks, and journalist Yoonjung Seo contributed to this report.
NST Online Top Stories - Google News
In an image taken from footage shown by North Korea's KCTV and released by South Korea's Yonhap news agency on December 9, 2013, Jang Song-Thaek is reportedly being dragged away from his chair by two police officials during a meeting in Pyongyang. North Korea confirmed on December 9 that the powerful uncle of Kim Jong-Un, the nation's leader, had been removed. New reports from North Korea say that Jang has been executed. 
North Korean citizens bow before the portraits of the founding father Kim Il-Sung, left, and his son Kim Jong-Il, in Pyongyang, North Korea on Monday, April 9, 2012. April 15 marked the 100-year anniversary of the founder's birth and journalists were allowed inside the country. 
A stern looking North Korean guard by the Chinese border customs office. This image was deleted by North Korean officials. 