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Kim Jong-Il's disappearing act: On honeymoon?

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Thursday, July 27, 2006

SEOUL — Where did Kim Jong Il disappear to after the firing of seven missiles in early July?

Kim Ok AP
The latest theory on the absent leader's whereabouts here, offered in jest, is that the "Dear Leader" has been on his honeymoon.

Speculation about Kim's marriage heated up when Yonhap, the quasi-official South Korean news agency, quoted government sources as saying he had married Kim Ok, his former private secretary. Kim Ok, they said, was filling the gap left by the death two years ago of Kim's third wife, Kim Yong-Hi.

The unanswered question was whether North Korea had deliberately planted reports of the marriage in the aftermath of the birth of a child — and possible heir — to Kim Jong-Il.

Kim has three sons, but the oldest, 35-year-old Kim Jong-Nam, son movie star Sung Hae-Rim (who died four years ago) has been ruled out as a successor by most analysts after Japanese immigration officials in 2001 caught him trying to enter the country with a fake Dominican passport. He said at the time he wanted to visit Tokyo Disneyland with his family.

Koh Young Hee, third wife of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il, was said to be his favorite companion. She was the mother of two of Kim's three sons — Kim Jong-Chul and Kim Jong-Woon. She died of heart failure in June 2004.
Kim Jong-Chol, 25-year-old son of the late Kim Yong-Hi, is believed to be the anointed one. But reports here say he suffers from a medical condition that gives him an excess of female hormones. Now the speculation is that 64-year-old Kim Jong-Il has sired yet another heir, one whom he hopes will fill the bill if he lives into his 80s as did his father, "Great Leader" Kim Il-Sung, who died in 1994 at 82.

A South Korean official, speaking anonymously, described Kim Ok as “virtually North Korea’s first lady.”

Now 42, she had accompanied Kim on inspection visits to military units and factories and was seated at his side when he met foreign dignitaries. Her brightest moment came in January when she accompanied Kim in Beijing to meet China President Hu Jintao.

For Americans, though, the pinnacle of Kim Ok's career had come not when she was with Kim Jong-Il but when she joined the entourage of Vice Marshall Jo Myong-Rok when he called on then-President Clinton at the White House in October 2000. Front pages of newspapers here show her seated demurely, head modestly looking down at the end of a long table lined with North Koreans on one side and Americans on the other — notably William Cohen, then secretary of defense.

Kim Ok, who went under the name of Kim Seon-Ok, also sat in on a session with Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who visited Pyongyang soon afterwards and says to this day that she believes the U.S. and North Korea could have made a deal if only the Florida recount hadn’t prevented Clinton himself from going before his term ran out in January 2001.

Kim Ok, former secretary to North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, is shown seated at far end of a table, as then U.S. Secretary of Defense William Cohen, left, meets with Jo Myong Rok, second from right, first vice-chairman of North Korea's National Defense Commission at the Pentagon on Oct. 11, 2000.
Kim Ok has all the right attributes to serve as a charming first lady. She majored in piano at Pyongyang University of Music and Dance and has been serving the "Dear Leader" one way or another for more than 20 years.

The anonymous government source was realistic, though, about her looks: “She is a cute woman rather than a beauty.” Rising to her defense, the same source added, “I heard she is very wise and clever.”

Whatever Kim Ok's status, the "Dear One" has reportedly told top aides not to talk about any succession plans. Should word spread of his hopes for passing power on to a third generation, he reportedly fumed: “We will be a laughing stock of the international community through three generations.”


Copyright © 2006 East West Services, Inc.

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