Hard evidence lacking for reports on designation of new North Korean leader Thursday, June 18, 2009
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East-Asia-Intel.com
SEOUL Ñ Although South Korea's intelligence officials told lawmakers here they believed North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il has designated his third and youngest son, Jong-Un, as his successor, they are unable to provide evidence supporting that conclusion.
In a confidential meeting with members of the Intelligence Committee, the National Intelligence Service said Kim Jong-Il informed his military, parliament and overseas diplomats of the designation shortly after the country's second nuclear test on May 25.
Rep. Park Jie-Won of the opposition Democratic Party said he was told at the briefing that the communist regime has asked officials in North Korea and overseas diplomats to pledge loyalty to Jong-Un.
The spy agency said the North sent a "secret telegram" on Kim Jong-Il's decision to its overseas missions in late May, according to Park and other lawmakers. The briefing was widely reported by South Korean and foreign news media last week.
But the exact contents of the telegram are not confirmed. Intelligence officials acknowledged that they learned of the telegram through witness accounts, but had not actually seen a copy.
"The NIS doesn't have any copy of the telegram," an intelligence official said.
Local media reported the telegram was sent to overseas missions by e-mail. But diplomats here said such an important message would not be sent by e-mail, which is vulnerable to being intercepted.
Officials at the Foreign Ministry said they have not heard about the telegram.
Unification Minister Hyun In-Taek said there was no solid evidence to confirm the designation of a successor.
"If Kim Jong-Il had not suffered a stroke, the issue of power succession might have not emerged as promptly as we are witnessing it today," Hyun told a forum.
Kim, 67, reportedly suffered from a stroke last August. In footage of a parliament meeting aired by state media in April, Kim was visibly thinner and limped slightly.
"When Kim Jong-Il was designated as a successor in the early 1970s, the North's media used the terms the 'party center' to refer to him, but there are no such indications yet," said an official at the Unification Ministry.
Andrei Lankov, an expert on North Korea at Kookmin University in Seoul, said the reports on succession are based on "the thinnest of possible evidence."
"The telegram itself Ñ if it exists, of course Ñ might have been misinterpreted or even forged," he said.
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