By As usual Dr. Andrei Lankov provides much needed perspective on whether Kim Jong-il’s youngest son Kim Jong-un has really been picked as the next leader of North Korea:
The Korea Times sure didn't publish a very flattering picture of Dr. Lankov.
If these reports are to be believed, Kim Jong-il’s youngest son, Jong-un, has been secretly anointed as a successor to his father, and now full-scale preparations for a dynastic transfer of power have began. These reports are based on a secret telegram, which was allegedly sent from Pyongyang to the North Korean overseas missions.
This telegram was cited by National Intelligence Service officers who briefed the National Assembly’s Intelligence Committee last Monday.
What does it all mean? Before we start answering this question, an important caveat is necessary: reports about Jong-un’s promotion are based on the thinnest of possible evidence. It is not known for sure what was said during the Monday briefing. This was a confidential meeting. The telegram itself (if it exists, of course) might have been misinterpreted or even forged. In other words, while the general public has come to see succession as a hard fact, it is not the case yet.
Finally, even if the reports do not deviate from the truth too far, the succession in North Korean system is a lengthy and highly visible process. For all practical purposes, North Korea is an absolute monarchy, but it has no belief in the sacred nature of the ruling family.
The Kims’ right to rule has always been justified by references to their superhuman wisdom, leadership qualities and other individual virtues, not to some special role of the family as such. When in the 1970s Kim Jong-il was appointed a successor to his father, it was never explained as because of their blood relations.
The propaganda machine insisted that Kim Jong-il’s own unique virtues and his unprecedented popularity among the ‘working masses’ made him a successor.
Therefore, a secret cable to foreign missions is not enough (even if such cable really exists). An Appointment should be accompanied by a long and very public campaign where the future successor will be extolled as another “genius of leadership” and “guiding star of the 21 century”. [Korea Times via Korea Economic Reader]
.jpg)
Make sure to read the rest, but Dr. Lankov is spot on. The other thing to keep in mind is the China factor. What does China think of this selection? Prior reports were that they preferred Kim Jong-il’s oldest son Kim Jong-nam.
By the way here is a sketch of how Kim Jong-un supposedly looks like today:
Does this guy look like he could be the next leader of North Korea?
9:51 am on June 8th, 2009 1
[...] Via ROK Drop: As usual Dr. Andrei Lankov provides much needed perspective on whether Kim Jong-il’s youngest son Kim Jong-un has really been picked as the next leader of North Korea [...]
9:52 am on June 8th, 2009 2
Kudos to Lankov.
Reply
8:29 pm on June 8th, 2009 3
A talking head. Good opinion, based on what? There is nothing really happening so it must not be true? The premise is valid, it only needs to be backed up with something more concrete.
Reply
9:09 pm on June 12th, 2009 4
[...] As Andrei Lankov suggested from a post made by ROK Drop a few days ago, there will be more than enough to write and speculate abouyt once the kid is named officially, if he is named officially. Moreover, the newspaper that carried the report of this new title did not have the article cited in the NYT (not that I could find anyway), but did run into an interesting blurb on what may be a more recent photo of Kim Jong Un: Kim Jong Un? (Yonhap) [...]
1:00 am on November 5th, 2009 5
[...] As Andrei Lankov suggested from a post made by ROK Drop a few days ago, there will be more than enough to write and speculate about once the kid is named officially, if he is named officially. Moreover, the newspaper that carried the report of this new title did not have the article cited in the NYT (not that I could find anyway), but did run into an interesting blurb on what may be a more recent photo of Kim Jong Un: [...]
1:09 am on November 5th, 2009 6
[...] Via ROK Drop: As usual Dr. Andrei Lankov provides much needed perspective on whether Kim Jong-il’s youngest son Kim Jong-un has really been picked as the next leader of North Korea [...]