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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| Dear Leader prepares the way for son's succession with cadre spring-clean |
| 2010-06-08 |
| North Korea's “Dear Leader' Kim Jong Il appointed his brother-in-law as his deputy yesterday in the latest sign that he is consolidating his family's grip on the world's only hereditary communist dictatorship. Chang Sung Taek was appointed vice-chairman of the National Defence Commission, the country's most powerful state institution. Mr Chang is believed to be close to the Dear Leader's youngest son, Kim Jong Un, who is emerging as the most likely successor to his ailing 68-year-old father. The news was contained in an official report on the Supreme People's Assembly (SPA), a tame parliamentary body, which announced various personnel changes including the appointment of a new premier, Choe Yong Rim. The SPA rarely meets more than once a year. This was the second session in two months, suggesting urgent business. For the past 18 months, since Mr Kim suffered from what appeared to have been a stroke, official photographs suggested that Mr Chang had rarely been far from his side. Many North Korea watchers in Seoul believe that he is playing a key role in preparing for Jong Un to be named his father's successor, perhaps in 2012, the centenary of the birth of his grandfather and the founder of North Korea, Kim Il Sung. Although Jong Un, believed to be 27 or 28, has not been named in the state media, reports suggest that party cadres have been briefed on the existence of a Young General, rivalling his father and grandfather in virtue and charisma. According to the South Korean Ministry of Unification, which tracks members of the North Korean elite, Mr Chang was educated at an elite school in Pyongyang and married Mr Kim's younger sister, Kim Kyong Hui, after studying in Moscow for three years. He rose to become the head of the most powerful bureau of the North Korean Workers' Party, the Organisation and Guidance Department. Perhaps because of his influence Mr Chang was abruptly purged in 2004 and sent into internal exile. He reappeared in 2006 and last year a new and powerful post was created for him: head of the Administrative Department, in charge of the courts, prosecutors and police. The personnel changes and two recently announced deaths of senior officials suggest an effort to surround Jong Un with officials supportive of his succession. Last week Ri Je Gang, an 80-year-old stalwart of the Workers' Party who was said to have been a rival of Mr Chang, died in what was reported to have been a car crash. Another senior cadre died of a heart attack in April and the retirement of a third was announced last month. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #1 Obama has a son? Oh wait... |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2010-06-08 23:09 |