By Make of it what you will but it appears that Kim Jong-il’s youngest son will become the next ruler of North Korea:
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has chosen his third son Jong-un as his heir apparent, the Mainichi Shimbun reported Tuesday. The Japanese daily quoted a North Korean official as saying the General Political Staff, the key organ of the People’s Army, has been distributing a memorandum saying Jong-un (26) was chosen as the heir early last month.
Such memoranda are normally used for ideological indoctrination of soldiers.
Kim Jong-un reportedly holds a senior Army post that would be equivalent to a deputy department chief in the Workers Party. Kim’s second son Jong-chol (28) has meanwhile been assigned to a key post in the party, the daily said.
The Mainichi quoted a diplomatic source in Beijing as saying Kim Jong-un could be registered in a district in North Pyongan Province as a candidate for deputy to the Supreme People’s Assembly, nominal elections for which are held on March 8. The aim is presumably to propel him to a more senior post because any North Korean official should be an SPA deputy, the source added.
But the source added, “It’s possible that the military seized a PR initiative by distributing the memo. It’s difficult to say with certainty at this moment whether Kim Jong-un has been chosen, because Jong-chol has also been assigned to an important post that is close to the succession.”
Jong-un was born to Ko Yong-hui from Osaka, Japan, who reportedly died in 2004. Unlike Kim’s first son Jong-nam or Jong-chol, almost nothing is known about him. He reportedly studied at Kim Il Sung Military University until 2007, and resembles his father in looks and personality. [Chosun Ilbo]
More from One Free Korea who finds it interesting that the regime isn’t more agressive in promoting Kim Jong-un due to his illigitimacy as his father’s successor. Think this is reason enough to suspect that Kim Jong-un becoming the next ruler of North Korea is not a for sure thing yet.
6:30 pm on February 18th, 2009 1
With any luck, in the ensuing chaos after the Dear Leader kicks the bucket all of the possible successors will kill each other off in a mass power grab. Hopefully, the peninsula can then be finally re-united without having to fire a shot.
Of course, I’m not so naive to think that it will go off that smoothly. I still think that there will be a mass power grab, but it will be very messy. ROK will inevitably be drawn into the conflict and, by default, so will we.
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10:37 pm on February 18th, 2009 2
“But the source added”, “its possible that the military siezed a PR initiative by distributing the memo”. The military has a preference? Against who? Kim Jong Chol? Who else is involved in the upgrading of an heir?
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7:55 pm on February 19th, 2009 3
[...] the Kim dynasty succession, it always amazes me how far the wispiest strands of RUMINT will send civilians into a tizzy -especially when the RUMINT originates in Pyongyang. Prediction [...]