The third son of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has been assigned to the all-powerful National Defense Commission, a possible sign that he is being groomed as his father’s successor, a news report said yesterday.
Kim, who has led the nuclear-armed North with absolute authority since his father’s death in 1994, has three known sons by two women but has not publicly anointed any of them as his successor. Speculation on who is to succeed the 67-year-old leader has grown since Kim reportedly suffered a stroke last August.
Yonhap news agency reported yesterday that Kim’s youngest son, 26-year-old Kim Jong-un, took up a low-level post at the defense commission, several days before the country’s rubber-stamp parliament reappointed his father as the commission’s chairman on April 9.
Under the North’s Constitution, the defense commission is the top government body and Kim Jong-il has ruled the country in his capacity as its chairman. He also is the top official in the powerful Workers’ Party and supreme commander of the army.
At this month’s closely watched parliamentary session, Kim Jong-il looked thinner and grayer and was limping slightly. It was his first major public appearance since his reported stroke but proved that he remains in charge of the North.
Yonhap, citing unidentified sources it says are privy to North Korea affairs, reported the third son is expected to assume the defense commission’s higher-level posts step by step in preparation to succeed his father.
The National Intelligence Service — South Korea’s main spy agency — said it was aware of the Yonhap report but could not confirm it. The Unification Ministry also said it could not confirm the report.
Little is known about Kim Jong-un except that he studied at the International School of Bern in Switzerland. Kim Jong-il’s former sushi chef says in a 2003 memoir that the son looks and acts just like his father and is the leader’s favorite.
Yoo Ho-yeol, a North Korea expert at Korea University, said it was possible that the third son took up the commission post so that he could gradually use his influence at the country’s highest body with “actual power.”
However, Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies, disagreed, saying the elder Kim is believed to be focusing more on consolidating his support base after being reappointed the country’s top leader. Yang said the early naming of his successor would quickly erode the elder Kim’s power and “worsen his health condition.”
Later yesterday, the North’s state media reported that Kim inspected an army unit and watched a music concert on Saturday, the 77th anniversary of the foundation of the 1.2 million-member military. The report was the latest in a series of media reports and photos depicting Kim as healthy and active.
The official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Kim’s inspection fell on Saturday — in an unusual disclosure of timing — to mark the 77th birthday of the North’s military. As usual, the report gave no location for the unit.
“Expressing great satisfaction ... he advanced important tasks which would serve as guidelines for bolstering the [military] into invincible revolutionary forces,” the agency said.
Kim also enjoyed a music performance by state choruses singing We Will Defend the Leadership of the Revolution at the Cost of Our Lives on the day, KCNA said in a separate dispatch.
The reports coincided with the North’s announcement that it had started reprocessing spent fuel rods to make weapons-grade plutonium.
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