By Kim Jong-nam has to be the most talkative figure in the entire North Korean regime considering the amount of interviews he has done over the years:
Kim Jong Nam has revealed in a new interview that Kim Jong Il was “always against the third generation succession.”
“Even Premier Mao Zedong didn’t hand down power. It doesn’t fit with socialism, and my father too was against it,” Kim Jong Il’s eldest son told Tokyo Shimbun today, explaining that hereditary succession is unavoidable now “for the stability of the nation’s system.”
“I hope,” Kim went on, “that (Kim Jong Eun) will accede to my father’s achievements and make the people affluent. I hope that North-South relations will be adjusted so that tragedies like the Yeonpyeong Island shelling don’t happen.”
“It would be good,” he added, “if he became a leader whom the people can respect.”
Elsewhere, Kim also moved to deny the existence of a rift between himself and the Pyongyang regime which has led to suggestions that his life might be at risk, saying that the rumors are “groundless” and asserting that he occasionally offers his opinion to Kim Jong Il.
“I have never felt in any danger,” Kim reportedly said. [Daily NK]
Read the rest at the link, but I still think Kim Jong-nam is the leader the Chinese would most prefer to see in power in North Korea considering his viewpoints on economic reforms along the Chinese model. Kim Jong-nam may be smartly distancing himself from the North Korean regime knowing how unstable the regime is that would leave him as a viable alternative if the Kim Jong-il regime does collapse?
8:48 pm on January 31st, 2011 1
You must take everything he says with a grain of salt.
PS. Mao had actually picked Lin Biao to be his successor, but that didn't turn out as he had planned.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lin_Biao#Attempted_c…
10:34 pm on January 31st, 2011 2
After the father dies he'll be invited back for the funeral and there he'll be invited to a meeting where he'll be safe. Wait, that's the plot for "The Godfather." Okay, after the father dies he'll plot with others to have him take his brother's place, but he'd better be careful or his brother will discover the plot and have him knocked off. Wait, that's the plot ofr "The Godfather, Part II."
10:36 pm on January 31st, 2011 3
Sorry, but everything about Kim Jong-nam screams "Fredo Corleone."
12:00 am on February 1st, 2011 4
Tell him to avoid going fishing…
4:36 am on February 1st, 2011 5
What if he's given terms he CAN'T refuse?!?
10:38 am on February 1st, 2011 6
Kim Jong-nam says that his father, Kim Jong Il was against third party succession when HE succeeded his father? I have a hard time believing that since it doesn't make sense. If hereditary power transfer is bad then how can Kim Jong Il justify his own power? Kim Jong-nam says that hereditary power transfer is against socialism. I laughed my piper off when I read that. WHAT in North Korea has anything to do with socialism such as their class system where if the ancestor was a party member or who fought in the Korean war then the descendant is considered to be from a good family vs if the ancestor was a South Korean or who criticized the regime then the descendant is considered to be contaminated. GI Korea may be correct that Red China may want Kim Jong-nam to assume power when Kim Jong Il dies but I think that the future dictator will be whoever the North Korean military wants as their frontman. It wouldn't suprise me at all if Kim Jong-nam were to die in an "accident" of some type after Kim Jong Il dies since I'm sure that his frank opinions tick off the military in North Korea.
6:46 pm on February 3rd, 2011 7
#6,
As I was saying in my first comment, take everything he says with a grain of salt. Remember that he's the guy who supposedly got in trouble when he told his friends, all kids of high-ranking North Korean officials, that he'd open up the country when he would be picked as his father's successor. I'm sure he's got ulterior motives for making the statement, I'm just not sure what they may be.
7:08 pm on February 3rd, 2011 8
China may also have reasons for keeping him under its wing. You never know when you may need a figurehead, ala Tibet.