By Kim Jong-un went from the “Young General” to the “Great Successor” to “Supreme Commander” all in one week:
North Korea vowed Saturday to uphold Kim Jong Il’s son as “supreme commander” as the campaign to install the young man as the next leader of the socialist nation sped up one week after his father’s death.
As the grieving continued for Kim Jong Il, state media also emphasized successor Kim Jong Un’s bloodline and legacy in carrying out the Kim family claim to lead and protect the North Korean people.
Kim Jong Un, who is in his late 20s and was unveiled last year as his father’s choice as successor, will be the third generation Kim to rule the country since its inception in 1948.
The call to rally behind Kim Jong Un, dubbed the “Great Successor” the day his father’s death from a heart attack was announced, comes amid a dramatic show of grief across North Korea. The country is to remain in an official state of mourning until after Kim’s funeral Wednesday and a memorial Thursday. [AP Newswire]
You can read more at the link, but hopefully one day soon the North Korean people will be able to call him and his regime the “Great Failure” instead.
She hasn’t seen...
8:33 am on December 24th, 2011 1
Will there be Baja, Chipotle, and Volcano Supreme Commanders?
8:48 am on December 24th, 2011 2
No matter what anyone says, this guy has respect. Remember the Choenan and how about Yeongdongpo? Well, those seemed to be KN saying “KJU is crazy enough to fire a torpedo at a war ship and shell a village.” Heck, if you can’t gain or earn someone’s respect you need them to think your crazy. What a great plan………….
11:03 am on December 24th, 2011 3
“hopefully one day soon the North Korean people will be able to call him and his regime the “Great Failure” instead.”
Hopefully, he will consolidate power as the old guys die off and he will bring in a younger, more worldly crowd… and they will look at China’s political transformation and South Korea’s economic transformation as inspiration… and realize a happy, prosperous, and productive population will allow them to be kings of a much better kingdom… as well as respected players on the world stage.
The “Great Reformer” will bring prosperity and stability. The “Great Failure” will bring unimaginable misery to North Koreans… and a heavy burden to South Korea.
5:05 pm on December 24th, 2011 4
Kim jung un is the meanest son.
5:19 pm on December 24th, 2011 5
#3, unfortunately, history shows that the more the generation of the last “crisis war” die off, the more likely the younger generation is to again take up arms.
As bad as north Korea’s old guard is, they remember the horrors of the Korea War. The younger generation have no concept of how bad war really is.
6:00 pm on December 24th, 2011 6
I think he was hoping for Cobra Commander.
6:22 pm on December 24th, 2011 7
Orbit, how do you know this and mean compared to who?
7:40 pm on December 24th, 2011 8
#5,
You forget that they must still have realistic expectations about what their military can and can’t do. Win a war against South Korea and its allies is not on the list of things it can do.
8:29 pm on December 24th, 2011 9
Well, without any “Scientific” backing, and only using descriptions available at the Public Library and Wikipedia, I’ve arbitrarily assigned the Kim Family along the lines of the Corleone Family:
Kim Jong Il: Don Vito. He’s been running the Family and his army of capos, soldiers, button men, and assorted hangers-on.
Kim Jong Nam: Sonny Corleone. Not sure if Jong Nam and Sonny have the same hot tempers, but Sonny also liked to gamble and chase skirts.
Kim Jung Chul: Fredo Corleone: “Softer” than his brothers, more likely to be pushed around. Fredo was pushed around by Moe Greene, Jong Chul seems like he’s been pushed around by the rest of his family. Kim Jong Il called him “girly.”
Kim Jong Un: Michael Corleone: Youngest (known) son, got the job after Jung Chul was passed over. May have “earned his bones” by ordering the Choenan sinking.
There is also a sister, Kim Song Sul, who seems a bit “stronger” than Connie Corleone. Song Sul was KJI’s scheduler and Security Chief. Scheduler is usually a nothing job, but anybody on the Security Team had better be on their game. I wouldn’t think that if she were a lightweight she would be put anywhere near KJI’s security apparatus.
I’m still betting that “Fearless Leader” will end up being his final moniker, after they try a few more on for size.
9:50 pm on December 24th, 2011 10
I hope they call #3 “fearless leader”. Those of us who are older can remember the fearless leader from the Rocky the squirrel cartoons.
10:23 pm on December 24th, 2011 11
MTB Rider #9. I want to add one more name from The Godfather to your list. Jang Song Taek, Kim Jong Il’s brother in law is similar to the role that Robert Duvall played as Tom Hagen who was the adopted son of Don Corleone who was the consigliere of the Corleone crime family. Jang Song Taek seems to be acting as regent until Kim Jong Un is old enough & experienced enough to become dictator.
11:07 pm on December 24th, 2011 12
China will never allow democracy on its borders.
11:29 pm on December 24th, 2011 13
India wut?
5:37 am on December 25th, 2011 14
He’s doubting himself already
http://www.theonion.com/articles/kim-jongun-privately-doubting-hes-crazy-enough-to,18374/
8:06 am on December 25th, 2011 15
Saw more of him on TV tonight at my in-laws. The consensus was that he lacks “charisma”. He looked awkward, very gauche. He looked like he couldn’t wait to get beck to playing his Xbox.
11:50 am on December 25th, 2011 16
Speaking of “bring[ing] in a younger, more worldly crowd”, will the Supreme Commander start by repatriating the 200 of his countrymen who were refused return from Libya? Would he risk them spreading the word of what happened there and tell the tales about what happened to the leader of that country?
Here is an interesting article in the LA Times. Jong-un may have to restaff many senior positions sooner than he planned.
A couple of weeks before Jong-il died, the LA Times also had this article:
If that is true, will China expect Jong-un to maintain those agreements?
@12 Denny said:
China will never allow democracy on its borders.
Yes, but they don’t want a burdensome, internally unstable and region destabilizing county on their border either. If there is too much commotion in North Korea in the coming months it could be a major topic of China’s Party Congress next year. China may then have to decide whether to cut cords or tighten nooses.
3:01 pm on December 25th, 2011 17
What? Taiwan? Hong Kong Legislative branch? India? Bhutan?
11:18 pm on December 25th, 2011 18
#17,
They’ve got their claws into Hong Kong, though.
12:01 am on December 26th, 2011 19
I wonder how the name plays in North Korean society. How about any Korean linguists – any significance that the English doesn’t transmit?
Kim Il-Sung was the Great Leader. Kim Jong-Il took the much more subservient Dear Leader.
Kim Il-Sung could command the deepest respect of the people and hold them better: The Soviets and Chinese tried to keep the standard of living comparable to that in the South. It wasn’t, but they tried. Il-Sung died before the great famine and the complete collapse of the economy.
It was smart for Jong-Il to rank himself lower than the father.
It seems they are going the opposite route with the grandson. I wonder if it will mean anything in the symbolic-driven culture of the North?
3:25 am on December 26th, 2011 20
I heard on the news that Kim Jong-un is now referred to as the “Super-sized Commander”.
6:55 am on December 26th, 2011 21
“It seems they are going the opposite route with the grandson. I wonder if it will mean anything in the symbolic-driven culture of the North?”
They are making up for his shortcomings. He really does look like a middle-school kid who’d rather be playing Xbox than meeting his father’s co-workers.
7:40 am on December 26th, 2011 22
But how will it play among the masses and the elite?
The father had their respect. The son was given a grace period due to the father, but had lost it by the end, but was too powerful to dethrone even with the loss of the personality cult.
The son has none of the “positive” family legacy to help him.
If he manages to stay in power for tens years or more, it will be really interesting to study how it happened.
3:55 pm on December 26th, 2011 23
Another comparison – back after Kim Il-Sung died, some analysts were saying the fact Jong-Il didn’t assume some of the titles right away was a sign of a power struggle or lack of initial strength to fully take the reigns. Maybe that was true, but I didn’t put much stock in it because of the Confucian tradition of mourning your parents for 3 years after death, and that is the same time frame that happened with Kim Jong-Il taking the official titles.
Today, the grandson is being marched out with full regalia right away. No 3 year mourning period.
So, looking at it with a broader, Confucian-oriented historical lens, it seems Kim Jong-Il’s waiting period was a sign of strength and Jong-Un’s one of weakness. Jong-Un isn’t respected enough. He hasn’t been groomed long enough to rest comfortably for 3 years exercising power in all but name. He has to be given the titles right away in the hopes he can gain as firm a hold on power as Kim Jong-Il had by the time his father died.
4:29 pm on December 26th, 2011 24
If Kim Jong-Un has minor children, he might appoint them to high office right away, so they’ll be ready to rule without the uncertainties of a long grooming process.
3:08 am on December 27th, 2011 25
The doctor said I was crazy. Type the word google time machine such that DIP mr.steven spielberg time machine, I do not know about any distortion. Everything about the time machine to prove any Supreme commnader all around the world to The patient stopped treatment at the Royal Prince of Kalaya right to me.s.o.s
5:25 am on December 27th, 2011 26
The doctor was right.
2:26 am on December 28th, 2011 27
Stop the war in which I propose stop medicine to Institution kulayarachanakarin to me(s.o.s)
3:02 am on December 28th, 2011 28
Tavatshai Kunnasuit: มหาวิทยาลัยมหาสารคาม?
3:07 am on January 15th, 2012 29
I had the money from the budget(stop war worlds)i want escaped event bad my home i ask visa do the subject help me with S.o.S thanks
7:05 am on April 27th, 2012 30
Supreme commander all around the world clear system to Police station sarmparn in nakorn pathom in thailand all the answers to sos3@hotmail.com thanks you.
4:06 pm on May 7th, 2012 31
Teadrinker #20, “Super-sized Commander”, hilarious! I’ve read that in Pyongyang that there is a museum of gifts to Kim Jong-il including a basketball signed by Michael Jordan. There is a guestbook that some wags have wrote some funny things or signed funny names that would not be noticed by the insulated North Koreans. I would love to hear of someone visiting this museum expressing condolences on the passing of KJI & then cranking up the adjectives lauding the super sized achievements of songun & juche, etc etc etc & wishing future success to the victorious people of the DPRK & the “Super-sized Commander.” Oh that would be a riot!
4:23 pm on May 7th, 2012 32
PYONGYANG, NORTH KOREA—In surprisingly candid remarks today following his father’s death, Kim Jong-un, heir apparent to North Korea’s highest government post, expressed doubt that he was sufficiently out of his mind to succeed longtime dictator Kim Jong-il.
While emphasizing that he was definitely completely insane and would likely become even more so as leader of North Korea, the younger Kim nevertheless wondered if he could ever be enough of a lunatic to truly replace the most unhinged dictator on the planet.
“Obviously, I know I was handpicked because I’m super crazy,” said Kim, the youngest of the late 69-year-old dictator’s four known children. “But my father was just so great at what he did. Did you know the people of North Korea heard his voice exactly once, for like five seconds? How nuts is that? Honestly, I look at stuff like that and I think, ‘Wow, there’s just no way I can ever top Dad.’”
“We’re talking about a world-class nut job here,” he added.
Kim told reporters that since emerging as the presumptive next-in-line to lead North Korea, he had spent countless hours trying to come up with his own brand of craziness that would honor the tradition set forth by his father and grandfather, Kim Il-sung, but would also set him apart. After discovering that many of his best ideas had already been taken by his father—including making citizens bow toward wall-sized portraits of himself or claiming to be a demigod whose moods directly influence the weather—Kim admitted he had grown frustrated.
“At this point, I’m not sure what’s left for me to do, really,” he said. “I mean, according to the Ministry of Information, Dad hit 11 holes-in-one the first time he ever played golf. I’m dead serious. Dad had never even picked up a golf club before, and he hit 38 under par. Where am I supposed to go from there? I guess I can say I ran a marathon in 20 minutes, but isn’t that pretty much the same thing?”
“It is the same thing, isn’t it?” Kim added. “Ugh.”
Kim, who in his rare public appearances wears a plain dark suit, said he ultimately hoped to cultivate an eccentric, yet vaguely sinister look as iconic as his father’s pompadour, drab parka, and sunglasses, perhaps something “even nuttier” involving canes, a large yellow raincoat, or possibly a motorized scooter.
Other ideas Kim has had for proving his insanity include placing anyone shorter than himself under permanent house arrest, issuing a new national currency every 90 days, normalizing relations with South Korea, and replacing all medicines with synthetic replications of his own saliva.
“Of course, I have to be careful not to come off as too crazy, because then it would just feel forced and no one would buy it,” said Kim, noting that he was working on some slogans that North Korean schoolchildren would be forced to chant three times daily. “Then again, maybe having it come off as forced would make me seem even crazier, because what kind of a maniac would go to such lengths to outdo his father? Right? Or is that just a cop-out?”
Although Kim’s birthday is already recognized as a national holiday and any criticism of him is punishable by indefinite sentences in re-education camps, Kim suggested that the stress of living up to his father’s insanity has already taken a toll.
“For years, I haven’t even enjoyed the things I used to love, like forcing starving people to perform a five-hour dance routine in my honor, because I spend the whole time obsessing over whether I’m being wacko enough,” Kim admitted. “That’s what was so special about Dad, you know: He never worried about all that stuff, he just acted like himself. What can I say? The old man set the loony bar pretty high.”
Added Kim, “God, I’m really going to miss him, you know?”