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Report: NKorea's Kim taps 3rd son as successor SEOUL, South Korea – North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has named his youngest son to succeed him as head of the Stalinist nation, a South Korean news agency report said Thursday. But another report said his eldest son was poised to step in as a figurehead, reflecting uncertainty over who will succeed Kim, who turns 67 next month. Rumors have swirled for years that Kim would nominate one of his three sons as a successor, following the tradition begun when he inherited the leadership from his father, North Korea's founder Kim Il Sung. Reports that Kim Jong Il suffered a stroke in mid-August heightened speculation about a successor. Kim will hand leadership over to Swiss-educated Kim Jong Un, who is in his mid-20s, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said, citing an unidentified intelligence source. The powerful Workers' Party was informed about a week ago, the report said. Jong Un was born to Kim Jong Il's late wife Ko Yong Hi. Ko had another son, Kim Jong Chol, but the father reportedly doesn't favor the middle son as a possible leader. The National Intelligence Service, Seoul's top spy agency, said it could not confirm the report. Cheong Seong-chang, a North Korea specialist at the independent Sejong Institute, said the reported choice of Jong Un seemed to be a feasible scenario. "Jong Un has leadership (qualities) and a desire to grab power," Cheong told The Associated Press, adding that he thought he was the most qualified of the three sons to lead North Korea at a difficult time. Japan's Yomiuri newspaper, however, reported earlier in the day on its Web site that Kim's eldest son, Kim Jong Nam, is expected to serve as a nominal head of state, citing unnamed U.S. intelligence sources. Kim Jong Nam, 38, had long been considered the favorite to succeed his father — until he was caught trying to enter Japan on a fake passport in 2001, reportedly telling Japanese officials he wanted to visit Tokyo Disneyland. His mother is the late actress Sung Hae Rim. Yomiuri said Jang Song Thaek, Kim Jong Il's brother-in-law, has been assigned to look after the eldest son and is playing a central role in building a collective leadership system to back him up. Kim Jong Il took over as leader when his father died in 1994 in communism's first hereditary power succession and rules the country with absolute authority. North Korea has denied that its leader was ever ill, and since early October has sent a steady stream of photos depicting an active and healthy Kim making visits to farms, factories and military units. The photos and reports typically are undated, and South Korean officials say they cannot confirm the visits. AP |
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| Clinton says North Korea's Kim Jong Il may step down soon The secretary of State says the U.S. and allies are trying to figure out how to respond to a change of power. Experts fear a new regime could be even more belligerent.By Paul Richter 6:40 PM PST, February 19, 2009 http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wo...0,6959609.story Reporting from Seoul -- Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Thursday that U.S. officials and allies were scrambling to prepare for the possible departure from power of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, a development she said threatened increased turbulence in one of the world's most heavily armed regions. Arriving in Seoul for security talks, Clinton said persistent signs within the secretive Pyongyang government suggested that a change of leadership might be at hand. She said the South Korean government had been especially concerned about possible developments inside its impoverished northern neighbor. "Everybody's trying to read the tea leaves about what's happening and what's likely to occur," Clinton told reporters on her plane during a flight from Jakarta, Indonesia, to Seoul, broaching a topic that has rarely been discussed publicly by U.S. officials. Clinton said that even a peaceful succession "creates more uncertainty, and it could create conditions that are even more provocative" as the ascendant leadership tries to consolidate power. The comments from the top American diplomat are certain to provoke a sharp reaction from Pyongyang. Hours earlier, the North Korean regime stepped up its confrontational rhetoric, saying its forces were "fully ready" for war with South Korea. Clinton was on the fifth day of a weeklong trip to East Asia focused in part on what to do about North Korea, which is believed to have a handful of nuclear weapons. U.S. intelligence agencies reported in August that the 67-year-old "Dear Leader," who has led the country since 1994, may have suffered a stroke or another serious health setback. Some observers played down the report and some U.S. officials have said since then that they believed Kim was once again in charge, if not at full capacity. But Clinton's comments suggested that there is now a widespread conviction that Kim is on the way out, and that the South Koreans, Chinese, Americans and others are formulating plans on how to deal with the successor regime. Signs of disarray in the North have included the firing this year of the defense minister and the military chief of staff. The promotion of one of Kim's three sons was announced and then withdrawn, U.S. officials noticed. Some observers see another clue in the sudden breakdown of multinational talks over dismantlement of Pyongyang's nuclear program, and believe the regime's belligerent new tone may reflect the influence of emerging leaders. Analysts have offered various possibilities about what the new leadership might look like. Some say that Kim's brother-in-law, or one of his three sons, could be a part of a new ruling group, but perhaps only as a figurehead. Many experts fear that the successor regime, which will control the world's fifth-largest army, could be even more intractable than Kim's has been. Clinton said the United States and its allies were trying to determine how to form a "common front" to restart the stalled nuclear negotiations, but pointed out that North Korea "has shown very little willingness to get back on track." The fact the north's leadership is now "somewhat unclear" has compounded other difficulties of working with the regime, making diplomacy "a difficult undertaking," Clinton said. The dangers of dealing with North Korea have been highlighted in recent weeks by reports that the regime is preparing to test a Taepodong 2 missile that some believe is potentially capable of striking U.S. territory. North Korea isn't yet able to mount a nuclear weapon on the tip of its missiles, experts say. The regime has made a series of threats against South Korea and the United States through its official news agency. Michael Green, a top Asia expert in the Bush administration who is now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said this month that the chances for violence between North and South Korea were increasing in the disputed waters west of the peninsula. Obama administration officials have acknowledged that the outlook for dealing with North Korea is not encouraging. Advisors have said that the general gloom surrounding the issue has made it more difficult for the administration to find a special envoy to seek solutions. Clinton said the administration was also thinking about how to formulate a new international effort to deal with North Korea's ballistic missile program. The North continues to make progress on longer-range missiles, and secret sales of its missile technology to other governments is a major worry for world powers. Clinton said the missile issue was one of "great concern." She said she wanted to work with other countries to decide whether it would best be handled through the existing six-country forum or through a new approach. One of Clinton's goals in her one-day visit to Seoul is to convince the beleaguered government of President Lee Myung-bak that the United States intends to stand up to the North, despite its promises that it will seek greater diplomatic engagement with adversary regimes. Lee, a conservative, has incurred the wrath of the North by cutting off cash aid on grounds that Pyongyang is not living up to its commitments to the North-South peace effort. Many analysts believe that the North's recent threatening behavior has been aimed at undermining Lee, who is also in trouble politically at home because of the damaging effects of the world economic crisis in South Korea. Clinton will fly to Beijing on Friday for talks with the Chinese government. She is interested in broadening the U.S.-Chinese diplomacy to put new emphasis on noneconomic issues, including climate change. But her comments Thursday underscored that discussions about North Korea will also be central in China. U.S. officials believe the Chinese have influence with their smaller neighbor, and want Beijing to try to force more cooperation. |
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Kim Jong Il anoints next leader of North Korea - his youngest son http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/worl...icle5766802.ece Richard Lloyd Parry in Tokyo From The Times February 20, 2009 It is one of the most powerful and dangerous jobs in the world and, for decades, foreign politicians, academics and spies have speculated over who will one day succeed to it. It brings with it absolute power over 24 million people, the command of a fanatical, nuclear-equipped army of a million men and a brutal state security apparatus. And yesterday the man who is likely to inherit it emerged from the shadows – a little-known 25-year-old with a European education and fondness for sushi, German cars and baseball. Reports from North and South Korea yesterday appeared to confirm what until now has been only rumour – that Kim Jong Un, the youngest son of the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Il, is being lined up to inherit his father’s title. It would be the second hereditary succession in the last remaining totalitarian communist dictatorship – and sets the scene for a period of extreme instability in one of the world’s most unpredictable countries. One of his closest and most hardline generals yesterday promised the army’s loyalty to the “bloodline” of the senior Mr Kim, a virtual guarantee that one of his children will succeed him.“We will firmly carry on the blood-line of Mangyongdae and Mount Paektu with our guns, faithfully upholding the leadership of our supreme commander,” Pak Jae Kyong, a senior general of the North Korean Defence Ministry, was quoted in the state media as having said at a recent rally for Kim Jong Il’s birthday. Mount Paektu is the sacred mountain where Kim Jong Il, according to the cult of personality which surrounds him, was born 67 years ago. Mangyongdae was the family home of his late father, the founder of North Korea, Kim Il Sung. The South Korean news agency Yonhap quoted sources in Beijing saying that Jong Un has registered as a candidate in elections on March 8 for North Korea’s Supreme People’s Assembly – the precursor to his public emergence as his father’s successor. |
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| NKoreans vote in election seen as clue to succession North Koreans voted on Sunday in elections for a new parliament which analysts say could pave the way for an eventual transition of power in the impoverished communist nation. The vote is also being closely monitored around the world for clues as to whether the state, which tested an atomic weapon in October 2006, will soften its stance in international negotiations and dismantle its nuclear arsenal. Voting to the rubber-stamp parliament did not take place in 2008 when its five-year term expired amid fevered speculation over the health of reclusive leader Kim Jong-Il . The North's television showed soldiers in uniform using both hands to politely raise and drop a ballot into a box at a Pyongyang polling station where Kim was standing. It said they were "voting for" Kim. Kim himself "voted for" an army officer at a different district in Pyongyang, said the official Korean Central News Agency which reported a 93.1 percent turnout of registered voters at 2:00pm (0500 GMT). Polling stations stayed open from 9:00am to 6:00pm, with election results likely to be announced Monday, Seoul officials said. "All the voters are going to the polls to consolidate the people's power as firm as a rock," the agency said, quoting the Central Election Commission. "I am filled with joy to think that I am able to contribute to the strengthening of the revolutionary sovereign power through my vote," Park Mi-Hyang, a 22-year-old worker in Pyongyang, told Kyodo news agency. Seoul and Washington say Kim Jong-Il has recovered well from a stroke he suffered in August and is in control, but his health and age have inevitably led to talk abroad about who will succeed him. He inherited power from his father, Kim Il-Sung, in the communist world's only dynastic succession. But it is unclear whether he wants one of his three sons to succeed him -- and if so, which one. "Kim Jong-Il will turn 72 when the next election comes, and given his ageing, it is likely that an idea about a post-Kim era will be reflected in the elections this time," Kim Yong-Hyun, a North Korea expert and professor at Dongguk University in Seoul, told AFP. Seoul's Yonhap news agency has said the leader has named his youngest son, Jong-Un, as his successor and that the 25-year-old is running in the election. The outcome is not in doubt -- candidates are picked by the government or ruling party, and only one stands in each district. The incoming assembly will re-elect Kim, 67, who is standing in a military district, as chairman of the National Defence Commission. The commission, which supervises the 1.2 million-strong military, is the North's most powerful organ, and its new line-up will be seen as an indicator of who is moving up the ladder of power and influence. A new parliament is often the prelude to a cabinet reshuffle. Assembly members commonly hold key posts in the ruling communist party as well as in the military and government, Seoul officials say. Dongguk University's Kim said the outcome of the election would not necessarily manifest a father-to-son succession but could see "a generation change" in the top ranks. "The North will likely bring in the young to replace the elderly with a future possible power transition in mind," he said, adding Pyongyang's power elite was overhauled in the 1998 and 2003 polls. Kim Jong-Il last month called the elections "significant" in terms of reviving the economy by 2012, the 100th anniversary of the birth of his father, the nation's founding president. Seoul's state-backed Institute for National Security Strategy says it expects the North to use the polls to promote people with specialist knowledge in an attempt to save the economy. The private Institute for Far Eastern Studies, for its part, predicts Kim "will further strengthen his grasp on the regime" through the election. In the previous 2003 polls, state media boasted of a 99.9 percent voter turnout and 100 percent support for every candidate. |
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SEOUL (AFP) - North Korea's ailing leader Kim Jong-Il has named his youngest son Jong-Un, a 26-year-old Swiss-educated basketball fan, as heir to his communist dynasty, reports said Tuesday. Kim's third son has been described as a "chip off the old block" and is seen by experts as a potentially skilled and ruthless leader, like his father, who has kept his regime in place despite years of famine and economic decline. There has been intense speculation about who would succeed North Korea's "Dear Leader" since he was reported to have suffered a stroke last August. Kim, now 67, is thought to have since recovered and resumed most of his duties. South Korea's intelligence services have now received word that he has nominated Jong-Un to succeed him, a South Korean lawmaker briefed by intelligence officials said Tuesday. North Koreans were reported to already be making pledges of loyalty to Jong-Un and singing songs in praise of "General Kim." Full Link: http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/090602/worl..._kim_succession |
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| North Korea leader Kim Jong-il has pancreatic cancer: report 45 minutes ago SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has pancreatic cancer, South Korean broadcaster YTN said on Monday in an unsourced news flash. Kim's health is one of the most closely guarded secrets in the reclusive communist state. (Reporting by Jack Kim, Editing by Dean Yates) |