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Assassination attempts prompt N. Korea's Kim to prepare son for succession


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By Edward Neilan
SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM

November 17, 1999

TOKYO -- The leader of Stalinist North Korea is preparing his son to succeed him on the throne of communism's only dynasty. Wait a minute! Haven't we heard this before?

It seems like only yesterday that "Great Leader" Kim Il-sung was making plans for his son, "Dear Leader" Kim Jong-il, to take over the planet's most repressive society when the elder Kim went "to meet Marx and Lenin."

In turn, Supreme Leader Kim Jong-il now appears to have chosen his eldest son as his successor, setting in motion preparations to perpetuate the world's only dynastic communist regime with third-generation leadership.

A high-ranking South Korean intelligence official told Seoul's Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) radio November 5 that Kim Jong-nam, 28, had recently begun work at the North's intelligence agency, the Ministry of Public Security.

"It is the first indication that Kim Jong-nam may succeed Kim Jong-il in another hereditary succession," the state radio quoted the official as saying.

However, Kim Jong-il, 58, who took the top office when his father, Kim Il-sung, died in 1994, is said to be healthy and anticipated ruling 25 million North Koreans for many more years.

Roly-poly Kim Jong-nam has lived much of life in a way reminiscent of his father's youth--blending a carefree lifestyle with official duties.

The son of Kim Jong-il's fist wife, Sung Hye-rim, Kim Jong-nam's roving education has taken him to Russia and many parts of Europe. Sources say he may have studied in Moscow and Geneva.

"We get our information second and third-hand but we hear that Kim Jong-nam acts very pampered and takes a strong interest in what goes on in Europe," one analyst said. His food tastes are said to be continental except for a fondness for Japanese sushi.

Sources said the younger Kim had been traveling in Europe for some time "with half a dozen beautiful women." Like his father, he seems to prefer Nordic beauties, with his latest main flame being Swedish.

In spring this year, his father reportedly insisted he return to his home country and start learning the ropes of life at the top.

Kim Jong-il may have had a more urgent reason for pushing the development of his successor. Intelligence reports at the time, now confirmed, said that in February and March last year street fighting broke out between field officers of the Korean Army and Kim Jong-il's personal guard. There were reports of an assassination attempt on Kim Jong-il.

Despite reports in both Pyongyang and Seoul downplaying the events, they were given credence by subsequent reshuffling of the Korean Workers' Party hierarchy and a purge of the youth organization during the winter mobilization.

In April, according to Korean specialist Chuck Downs quoting intelligence sources in his book "Over The Line: North Korea's Negotiating Strategy" (American Enterprise Institute Press, Washington D.C., 1999), a high-ranking general "was arrested on allegations of having plotted the assassination of Kim Jong-il the previous summer. The general was subsequently executed."

Some officials responsible for dealing with budding external business interests disappeared, including Kim Jong-u, the North Korean official who boasted that North Korea was "opening a door." A few months later it was reported he had been executed. Several members of the trusted inner circle defected in late 1997 and early 1998 suggesting a high level purge.

Always concerned with his bodyguards protecting him in the present, Kim Jong-il apparently began thinking about future security and an heir to carry forward the family dynasty in case he was killed.

Edward Neilan (eneilan@crisscross.com) is a veteran journalist, based in Tokyo, who covers East Asia and writes weekly for World Tribune.com.

November 17, 1999


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