Does Kim Jong-il need a successor?

Does Kim Jong-il need a successor?
Does Kim Jong-il need a successor? - Sputnik International
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MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti international commentator Ivan Zakharchenko) - The "news" about Kim Jong-il's successor has been covered by the media in many countries since last fall. Today, analysts believe that the North Korean leader has anointed Kim Jong-un, his favorite youngest son, as a successor.

This topic has made the front pages again now that North Korea conducted a nuclear test on May 25, and is preparing to test launch nuclear capable missiles with a range of 1,300km-6,000km. The UN Security Council is drafting a resolution with potential sanctions against Pyongyang, whereas North Korea threatens to retaliate by further buildup of its deterrent. But what does the successor have to do with all that?

Information about him is coming from South Korean sources. On Tuesday, many Seoul newspapers carried reports saying that secret services have confirmed the choice of Kim Jong-un as the successor of his father's cause in North Korea. At one time, Kim Jong-il took over from his father Kim il-Sung, who died in the summer of 1994, in much the same way.

Indicatively, official information about Kim Jong-il's family and private life has never been made public in North Korea. It is a strict taboo.

South Korean sources report that Kim's youngest son Kim Jong-un or Kim Jr. received primary education in an international boarding school in Bern, Switzerland, which he attended together with his brother Kim Jong-chul and his sister Kim Hye-gyong, who is now 22. However, except for going to school, they practically did not leave their house so as not to get under the influence of capitalism.

Kim Jr. is 26 years old, about 175 cm tall and weighs around 90 kilos. Secret services in Seoul maintain that despite his young age, he suffers serious health problems resulting from high blood pressure and diabetes.

Why have the media started enthusiastically discussing him now? Russian expert on Korea and Deputy Director of the Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO) of the Russian Academy of Sciences Vasily Mikheyev made the following comment in an interview with RIA Novosti. First, this news may be Pyongyang's intended "leak" of information with a view to gauging the reaction of Seoul and the rest of the world to the choice of the successor.

Second, after former South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun committed suicide recently, against the background of current tensions on the Korean peninsula, South Koreans have started recalling their peaceful co-existence with North Korea during his presidency. Current South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and his administration need some positive developments, and it is no accident that the South Korean media are talking about Kim Jong-il's successor "exclusively in positive terms."

"The point is that having received his education abroad, he has a different mentality. He may prefer openness, and this is instilling South Koreans with hope," the expert explained.

However, until Kim Jong-un is officially mentioned in the North Korean press, at least as a member of his father's delegation during domestic trips, it is too early to speak about his succession as a decided matter. It is not clear whether Kim Jong-il needs an official successor at all today.

The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.

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