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Joined: 24 Jan 2003
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 Posted: Wed Oct 05, 2005 2:37 am Post subject: N. Korea 'may name Kim successor' |
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MOSCOW, Russia (Reuters) -- North Korea could announce this month an eventual successor to leader Kim Jong-il, Russian news agency Itar-Tass said on Tuesday, quoting a diplomatic source in Pyongyang.
"An announcement about the appointment of a successor could be made as early as this month, timed for the celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of the (North Korean Labour Party)," the unnamed source told Tass.
The source added that the successor would be one of Kim Jong-il's sons, all of whom had "roughly equal chances".
North Korea is the world's only communist dynasty and analysts have been speculating for years which son Kim will chose as his successor.
Kim, 63, has three known sons, Jong-nam, Jong-chol and Jong-un, from two women.
The eldest, Jong-nam, 34, was deported from Japan in 2001 on suspicion of trying to enter the country using a forged Dominican Republic passport.
He was sent to China from Japan and was quoted as saying at the time that he was trying to visit Tokyo Disneyland.
He reportedly fell out of favor over the incident and has since been the target of two assassination attempts, South Korean media reported citing intelligence sources.
Jong-nam was born to an actress who was a mistress of his father. He reportedly studied abroad as his mother moved around, including stints in Moscow and Geneva.
Like his father during his youth, Jong-nam has something of a playboy image.
The second son, Jong-chol, was born to leader Kim's second mistress, Ko Yong-hi, and is believed to be 24.
Kenji Fujimoto, who served as the North Korean leader's personal chef in the 1980s and 1990s, wrote in a book that Kim did not think Jong-chol had the ability to lead North Korea.
The youngest of the three, Swiss-educated Jong-un, is believed to be Kim's current choice to succeed him, analysts have speculated, adding he may be too young now for Kim to name him as his successor. Jong-chol and Jong-un had the same mother.
Kim Jong-il himself was 32 at the time he was in effect picked to succeed the Great Leader Kim Il-sung in 1974 by being elected secretary to the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, the formal name of the North Korean Labour Party.
In the years following the announcement, Kim Jong-il steadily increased his power in domestic, international and security affairs in the 1980s.
In 1991, Kim was named supreme commander of North Korea's armed forces, officially becoming the second-most powerful person in North Korea after his father.
He took power in 1994 when Kim Il-sung died at the age of 82. |
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