N Korea leader names son as general

[third eye]

N Korea leader names son as general - Asia-Pacific - Al Jazeera English

Kim Jong-il, North Korea's reclusive leader, has promoted his son, Kim Jong-un, to the rank of general in the powerful military, just hours before a key meeting to determine the country's leadership, state media reports.

Also promoted to general was Kim Kyong-hui, the ailing leader's sister, KCNA news agency reported on Monday.

Jong-un, thought to be born in 1983 or 1984 and partially educated in Switzerland, is the youngest of Kim's three known sons, none of whom had ever been mentioned in the secretive North's official media.

The ruling Workers' Party of Korea convened a rare meeting on Tuesday in a move analysts expected to kick off the succession process of the leader's son.

Power transfer

The widely anticipated meeting will be the party's first major gathering since a landmark congress in 1980 where then 38-year-old Jong-il made his political debut. That appearance confirmed he was in line to succeed his father, Kim il Sung, the founder of North Korea.

Jong-il came to power when his father died of heart failure in 1994, setting in motion the communist world's first hereditary transfer of power.

Jong-Un has been elected to attend the party conference as a delegate of the Korean People's Army, South Korea's Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported on Monday, citing a source in North Korea it did not identify.

After Jong-Un was elected as a delegate, the party central committee put out an internal propaganda proclaiming him to be Jong-il's sole successor, the report said, citing the unnamed North Korean.

'Military first'

Backing by the military is considered a prerequisite for the succession to be carried out smoothly in a country that operates on a "military first" policy where priority is given to the armed forces.

Jong-il was officially chosen as successor in 1972, when he was elected to the party's central committee, and the same scenario could hold true for Jong-Un on Tuesday, the paper reported.

The question of who will take over from Jong-il, believed to suffer from a host of ailments, is important to regional dynamics as well as security, because of North Korea's active nuclear and missile programmes, and regular threats it makes against rival South Korea.

Some experts fear political instability or even a power struggle if Kim Jong-il were to die or become incapacitated without clearly naming a successo

 

[siegecrossbow]

This may be North Korea's last chance for reform before something much nastier happens...

 

[silent hill]

^^ china should invade north korea and remove that miserable government??

 

[Nomenclature]

^^ china should invade north korea and remove that miserable government??

No unless we have no other choices

 

[lcloo]

North Korea is KIM Dynasty in another name, how can it be a "people's democratic" communist/socialist country when it's leadership passed from grandfather to father and then to son and daughter?

Hope China will break its non-interference policy and demand for for reform as condition for aid.

 

[illuzioN]

ugh.... I hate this issue.... I wish we all can get along in the part of the world.... no need to fight!

the past is in the past!

 

[siegecrossbow]

^^ china should invade north korea and remove that miserable government??

No I was referring to regime collapse and how millions of North Korean refugees will flood into China/South Korea (the South Koreans are better off since their borders are much better guarded).

 

[CardSharp]

North Korea is KIM Dynasty in another name, how can it be a "people's democratic" communist/socialist country when it's leadership passed from grandfather to father and then to son and daughter?

Hope China will break its non-interference policy and demand for for reform as condition for aid.

It's already beginning. I suspect China will demand opening and a partial hand in managing it in return for supporting the Kim Dynasty. Analyst suspect that the election of a reformist premier in that nation is China's work.


On a brighter note the new Kim seems uninterested in power and a lot less crazy than papa.

 

[jha]

Even if a reformist govt. is setup it will take decades to erase the propaganda fed up into the minds of North Koreans. Lets hope this new heir is less crazy than his father.

 

[siegecrossbow]

Even if a reformist govt. is setup it will take decades to erase the propaganda fed up into the minds of North Koreans. Lets hope this new heir is less crazy than his father.

Better late than never sir.

 

[below_freezing]

Better late than never sir.

the danger lies in having the "propaganda erasing" work too far, like what happened with the red guards in the 1980's when they converted to anti-chinese racism and started preaching about american invincibility.

those are just a few million out of 1.3 billion though; imagine what a country if 20 million "red guards" can become.

 

[Nomenclature]

the danger lies in having the "propaganda erasing" work too far, like what happened with the red guards in the 1980's when they converted to anti-chinese racism and started preaching about american invincibility.

those are just a few million out of 1.3 billion though; imagine what a country if 20 million "red guards" can become.

I'd say Red Guards were all anti-Chinese racists to begin with, so no conversion was needed. Only the American worshiping part was new.

As for North Koreans, I think a lot of them already knew life in the South is much better than in the North. The main propaganda focus nowadays is South Koreans are humiliated and oppressed by occupying U.S forces. I've read reports saying the anti-American sentiment is so ingrained even North Korean defectors living in Seoul show hostility toward Americans.