Kim the “third” climbs to the top, becomes the regime’s n. 2 man
Seoul (AsiaNews) – Kim Jong-un, Kim Jong-Il’s third son and heir apparent, has been officially recognised as the number two man in North Korea's political system after his name was listed next to the leader for the first time, analysts said on Monday. The occasion is the funeral next Wednesday of a prominent military figure, Jo Myong-Rok, who died on Saturday from heart failure at the age of 82.
This is the clearest indication that after his promotion to four-star general and his appointment as first deputy chairman of North Korea’s National Defence Commission the young man is now the regime’s number two leader. Last month’s plenum of the ruling Korean Workers’ Party had approved the two appointments, but had failed to present Kim Jong-un’s name as that of the successor designate. Today’s announcement removes all doubts about who will succeed the ‘dear leader’.
“Just 40 days ago, Jong-un was number six in the hierarchy,” an anonymous source inside North Korea told AsiaNews. “This promotion is due to two factors, namely Kim Jong-il’s health, which is getting progressively worse, and the young man’s fierce drive for power. Through threats and blackmail, he is removing all possible rivals in the race to succeed his father.”
“Such ruthlessness also appears to be the reason why his father chose him as heir,” the source said. “Kim Jong-il knows very well that terror is needed to have the country . . . and the military toe the line. Jong-un not only discredited and removed his half-brothers from his father’s court, but has shown that he is capable of maintaining the status quo.”
The official list is indeed a “good indication of the political hierarchy in a Socialist country like the North”, said Baek Seung-Joo of the Korea Institute for Defence Analyses.
Being “vice chairman of the party's central military commission [. . .] is high enough to put everyone else under him. He doesn't really need more official titles to strengthen his power,” he said. Nevertheless, Jong-Un's upgraded status in the state protocol is “a meaningful change”, this according to Park Hyeong-Jung, a researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification.
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