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North Korea’s secretive ’first family’
A series of recent memoirs by former cooks, a bodyguard and the sister of one of the lovers of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il have all served to conjure up a lurid portrait of a mercurial and extravagant dictator. But besides detailing Mr Kim’s lifestyle, they have also given important indications as to who may go on to succeed the 61-year-old leader — if one of the world’s most secretive, and arguably most dangerous, regimes survives. Analysing events inside North Korea is notoriously difficult, and the question of succession is mired in doubt and speculation. What does seem widely agreed upon is that Kim Jong-il has produced an indeterminate number of children with a string of women. Only one of these is known to have married him — Kim Young-sook, chosen for him by his father. But his eldest son was born to another woman - North Korean movie star Sung Hae-rim, who suffered from depression and died in Moscow last year.
Wonder what could have made her so depressed?
For a long time, analysts assumed that Kim Jong-il’s most likely successor would be this boy - Kim Jong-nam. Pyon Jin-il, editor of the Korea Report Tokyo, said he believed this was still the case. "North Korea is a feudalistic country. Under feudalism the eldest brother is the heir of the father," he said. But many believe Kim Jong-nam ruined his chances in 2001, when Japanese officials caught him trying to sneak into Japan using a false passport, an incident which caused severe diplomatic embarrassment to Pyongyang.
But apparently he only wanted to go to DisneyLand.
They argue that one of Kim Jong-il’s sons with his "favourite" consort, Ko Young-hee, is the anointed successor. The question is which son: Kim Jong-chul, or his younger brother Kim Jong-woong? Many analysts believe Kim Jong-chul is the most likely, if only because he is the elder. But a Japanese sushi chef who worked for Kim Jong-il for 13 years believed Kim Jong-woong to be the heir apparent because he considered his older son "like a girl". Other key players are Kim Jong-il’s younger sister, Kim Kyung-hee, and her husband Chang Song-taek - one of the North Korean leader’s closest aides. But Katy Oh, co-author of North Korea Through the Looking Glass said: "Kim Jong-il will be shrewd enough that his power will not go to his brother-in-law’s family."
Posted by: Paul Moloney 2003-11-01
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=20632