Eldest brother casts doubts on new NK leader's grip on power

[benihime99.livejournal.com]

The eldest brother of North Korea's new leader Kim Jong-un has expressed doubts about his half-sibling's hold on power, anticipating the ruling elite to extend their influence over the communist country, a Japanese newspaper said Thursday.

Kim Jong-nam told the Tokyo Shimbun in an e-mail sent on Jan. 3 that he has "doubts about how a young successor with some two years (of training as heir) can retain the 37 years of absolute power" wielded by his late father and former leader Kim Jong-il, the newspaper said.

Kim Jong-nam, believed to be in his late 30s, has lived abroad for years after apparently falling out of favor with his father for attempting to enter Japan on a fake passport in 2001. A source familiar with Kim's activity told Yonhap News Agency last month that the eldest son had arrived in Beijing from the Chinese gambling enclave of Macau, shortly before Pyongyang held a state funeral for his father on Dec. 28. It remains unclear whether Kim Jong-nam attended the funeral.

"I expect the existing ruling elite to follow in the footsteps of my father while keeping the young successor as a symbolic figure," he said in the e-mail, making his first remarks on the North Korean regime and succession process since his father's death.

"It is difficult to accept a third-generation succession under a normal reasoning (process)."

It is not the first time Kim Jong-nam has been critical of the hereditary succession in his country that started when his father inherited power from his own father and North Korea founder Kim Il-sung in 1994. Kim Jong-nam told the Tokyo Shimbun in January last year that "even Chairman Mao Zedong of China did not enforce hereditary succession."

"(Hereditary succession) does not fit with socialism, and my father was against it as well," he was quoted as telling the paper in an exclusive interview held in a southern Chinese city. (Yonhap)


From a strictly political pov he's saying some truthful things. Hereditary succession does not fit with socialism.

Source: Koreatimes

Comments

[4minutesluts.livejournal.com]

this is p much what I've heard from everyone reputable talking about this

hereditary succession doesn't fit with socialism but neither does the vast majority of shit that happens in NK

[lydkami.livejournal.com]

and my father was against it as well,

but he certainly didn't give back the power when he succeeded his own father.

[4minutesluts.livejournal.com]

that would have caused an epic shitstorm and power struggle, most likely

[lydkami.livejournal.com]

oh, definitely, not saying otherwise but still it's rather ironic that his father was against hereditary succession when he was the prime poster child. Although I really think there wasn't as much power struggle as there could have been 'cause anyone who opposed him and had any sort of power suddenly vanished, died or the likes the moment he had power.

Right now I think there's no 'problem' in the current affairs since the kid is relatively green behind the ears but in about 5-15 years? I presume he will want more power and then there will be deaths left and right... that or his uncle/someone else with power takes him down before he attempts to do it (not for altruistic reasons but to take on the power themselves).

I don't really know for sure, I need to find some time to catch up on what sort of power structure/players are there now that the kid is in power. I need a better tag-name for the new dictator and not just 'the kid'... i wonder if he will start pointing at things instead of looking at them?

/sorry, i tend to ramble on subjects like this XD

[4minutesluts.livejournal.com]

How dare you, leaders looking at things is the essence of Juche.


I haven't really looked at things too closely but I'd assume the military has most of the real power and that it's just a question of how fractious the power structure there is.

[lydkami.livejournal.com]

How dare you, leaders looking at things is the essence of Juche.

lol. true, I forgot that. /bad!me.


they (military) definitely have the real power but still Jong-il held onto quite enough power by making those that opposed him early on disappear fast enough but his youngest hasn't been 'prepared' for as long as he was and while good ol' dad did manage to set him up inside the inner circle somewhat the brother in-law/uncle of the new dictator has quite a good chunk of power that previously rested on Jong-il's hands.

Or that's what I've gathered. it all could be bogus information and the north just trolling us, after all we no longer see anyone looking at anything.

[strawberry-efeu.livejournal.com]

From what I've read, Kim Jong Il didn't want to pass the power on to his sons because he thought they were all incompetent. I think that's what Jong Nam is referring to here.

[lydkami.livejournal.com]

*nods* yes, he did & not saying his kids are competent but well, who says he was? The man thought too highly of himself.

[queencleopatra.livejournal.com]

I keep learning new things about NK, good on the eldest brother for getting out of there.