Kim Puts Family First as Son Named to North Korea Party Post
Kim Puts Family First as Son Appointed to Party Post
Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Images
A South Korean man watches a TV screen showing what is believed to be the picture of Kim Jong-Un, the youngest son of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il.
A South Korean man watches a TV screen showing what is believed to be the picture of Kim Jong-Un, the youngest son of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il. Photographer: Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Images
Sept. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Donald Gregg, former U.S. ambassador to South Korea, talks about the outlook for North Korea's leadership and diplomacy. North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il’s youngest son, Kim Jong-Un, has been appointed a general, the official Korean Central News Agency reported yesterday, a day before the Workers Party of Korea is to meet to choose "its supreme leadership body." Gregg also discusses the sinking of a South Korean warship in March which killed 46 sailors. He speaks with Susan Li on Bloomberg Television's "First Up." (Source: Bloomberg)
Kim Jong Il appointed his son to the ruling party’s second-highest military position, indicating North Korea’s ailing leader intends to extend his family’s rule of a totalitarian state that has armed itself with nuclear weapons while relying on donors to feed its 24 million people.
Kim Jong Un was elected one of two Central Military Commission vice chairmen at a Worker’s Party of Korea meeting yesterday, a day after he was made a four-star general, the official Korean Central News Agency said. He also joined the party’s Central Committee, though not the more elite Politburo, at a meeting yesterday. His father’s sister, Kim Kyong Hui, was given several high-ranking posts, including politburo membership, KCNA reported.
The Kim family’s tightening grip on the military and party hierarchy underscores the challenge of transferring power to a son who had never before been mentioned in a KCNA dispatch. Kim Jong Un faces an increasingly disgruntled public in an economy squeezed by United Nations sanctions targeted at its weapons programs and a bungled currency revaluation.
“Even Kim Jong Il must be wary of public criticism should his son fail to improve economic conditions,” Paik Hak Soon, director of inter-Korean relations at the Seongnam, South Korea- based Sejong Institute, said before the commission appointment. “Domestic political stability will be Kim Jong Un’s key focus.”
Kim Jong Il, 68, was re-elected as party chief, general secretary and chairman of the military commission, KCNA said.
China’s Congratulation
China’s President Hu Jintao congratulated Kim Jong Il on his re-election, pledging to strengthen ties with his country’s communist neighbor “to a higher level,” the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported today, without mentioning the son. Kim Jong Il made an unprecedented two trips to China this year, prompting speculation he was seeking endorsement of the power transfer from his nation’s main political and economic ally.
North Korea’s economy is faltering after floods wiped out crops and damaged houses. There have been sporadic public protests since food shortages worsened following a government decision to devalue the currency and confiscate savings, according to reports by Seoul-based rights groups, including Good Friends.
The economy shrank 0.9 percent to 24.7 trillion won ($20 billion) in 2009 after the UN toughened sanctions against the country of 24 million people over its second nuclear test in May last year, according to the Bank of Korea in Seoul.
Swiss Schooling
Kim Jong Un, said by South Korea’s Unification Ministry to be in his late 20s, attended the International School of Berne in Switzerland, according to media, including the Seoul-based Dong-A Ilbo newspaper. The school declined to comment.
A North Korean student named Pak Un, though, attended a nearby school called Liebefeld Steinhoelzli, near where North Korean embassy employees lived, school head Peter Burri said in an interview last year. The Washington Post reported in July 2009 that that student was Kim Jong Un.
Pak Un was “interested in sports, open-minded, and intelligent,” said town councilor Ueli Studer. Joao Micaelo, a then-student who was reported by the Post to have been friends with Kim Jong Un, said in an interview that his friend went by Pak Un, without commenting on any other identity.
Kim Jong Un’s public debut supports speculation that his father has been preparing to hand over power since reportedly suffering a stroke in 2008. The latest published picture of Kim Jong Il from a meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao in August showed his hair was thinner than when he was last seen in May. He was shown then limping and dragging his left foot.
Father’s Favorite
The father favored Kim Jong Un over the other sons, Kenji Fujimoto, a Japanese sushi chef who worked for the dictator for 13 years, wrote in a 2004 book, “Kim Jong-Il: North Korea’s Dear Leader.”
“Jong Un is very similar to his father, even his physical shape,” he wrote.
Kim Jong Un and his older brother, Kim Jong Chol, were born to Kim Jong Il’s companion, Ko Young Hee. The eldest son, Kim Jong Nam, who had a different mother, fell out of favor after he was caught trying to enter Japan in 2001 on a fake passport, Yonhap News reported yesterday. Kim Jong Chol was too unhealthy and mentally weak to be picked, Yonhap said.
The orders promoting Kim Jong Un and his aunt, Kim Kyong Hui, to four-star general were issued by Kim Jong Il, who called on military commanders to “remain true to the party’s leadership in the future,” KCNA said, without mentioning the family ties.
‘Hasty’
“It seems a little hasty for Kim Jong Il to be revealing his son at such a young age, but he must have felt time is running out,” said Kim Yong Hyun, professor of North Korean studies at Seoul-based Dongguk University. “He may have his sister and brother-in-law act as his son’s shield until Kim Jong Un proves his leadership.”
Kim Kyong Hui, 64, is a member of the central committee of the Workers’ Party in charge of light industry, according to South Korea’s Unification Ministry. Her husband, Jang Song Thaek, was named vice chairman of the National Defense Commission in June, making him North Korea’s second-most powerful official.
‘Symbolic Step’
“The promotions are a significant symbolic step to legitimatizing Kim Jong Un as successor, as gaining military support is crucial to becoming a leader in North Korea,” said Baek Seung Joo, a senior research fellow at the Korea Institute of Defense Analyses in Seoul. “This will pave the way for Kim Jong Un to assume key party posts, which will allow him to exert greater powers.”
Kim Jong Il’s position as heir to his father, North Korean founder Kim Il Sung, was cemented at the last party congress in 1980. It wasn’t until his father’s death 14 years later that he took power.
“Kim Jong Un has to prove his worth and has to do it fast,” Baek said. “He may still be a better leader than Kim Jong Il having been educated abroad and we can only hope he will to opening up the country.”
To contact the reporter responsible for this story Bomi Lim at blim30@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Bill Austin at billaustin@bloomberg.net
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