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.