North Korea’s Kim Jong-il made his elusive youngest son a four-star general yesterday in a major promotion seen as confirmation that he is slated to become the country’s next leader.
The announcement was published in state media hours before a historic Workers’ Party meeting opened where Kim, 68 and apparently in deteriorating health, was expected to grant son Kim Jong-un and other family members top posts in plans to take the communist dynasty into a third generation.
Pyongyang was in a festive mood, with banners and placards celebrating the meeting, where Kim Jong-il was re-elected to the party’s top position of general secretary. It is the nations’s biggest political gathering in 30 years.
It was the North Korean state media’s first mention of Kim Jong-un, who has remained so well hidden from the outside world that not even his face or exact age can be confirmed. He is believed to be 27 or 28, and is said to have been schooled in Switzerland and educated at Kim Il-sung Military University in Pyongyang.
However, it is clear that “Kim Jong-un’s promotion is the starting point for his formal succession to power,” said Kim Yong-hyun, a North Korea expert at Seoul’s Dongguk University.
“It’s clearly the biggest news we’ve had from North Korea since the death of Kim Il-sung,” said Peter Beck, a Council on Foreign Relations-Hitachi research fellow at Keio University in Tokyo.
“I think it clearly demonstrates that Kim Jong-il is committed to maintaining control of the country within his family,” he said.
The appointment also appears aimed at putting the son at the helm of his father’s songun (military first) policy. He is expected to take up other top military jobs such as commander of the 1.2 million-member military, analyst Cheong Seong-chang of the private Sejong Institute think tank said.
Meanwhile, South Korea’s ruling Grand National Party denounced the North’s succession process, calling it “anachronistic.”
It’s not known what kind of party position Kim Jong-un might be granted. Some predict he’ll win the same post his father took 37 years ago — party secretary authorized to supervise party members and appoint top party, government and military officials.
However, the younger Kim may not have the benefit of 20 years of training like his father.
Kim Jong-il, said to be suffering from diabetes and a kidney ailment, reportedly had a stroke in August 2008, sparking fears about instability and a possible power struggle if he were to die without a successor. Kim has two other sons, but the youngest is said to be his favorite.
However, with Kim Jong-un still in his 20s and politically inexperienced, Kim Jong-il may tap his 64-year-old sister, Kim Kyong-hui, to oversee an eventual transfer of power, experts say.
She was among six people promoted to general and her name was listed ahead of Kim Jong-un’s in the Korean Central News Agency report.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique