Another Kim on the Throne in North Korea? Maybe Not
On Tuesday, the North Korean regime, always opaque and endlessly fascinating, will reveal the identity of its next leader.
Maybe.
The Korean Workers’ Party will hold its first major gathering since 1980 this week. At the 1980 Congress, Kim Jong Il, the current leader, made his debut. Analysts think his son, Kim Jong Un, will be introduced at the event as the next Kim to rule the North.
Not much is known about the autocrat-in-waiting. He is the youngest of the three acknowledged sons of Kim Jong Il. Jong Un may be 27, although no one outside the regime is sure, and he is thought to be just as competitive — and ruthless — as his dad.
He studied in a boarding school in Bern under a pseudonym until he was 15, passing himself off as the son of the driver in the North Korean embassy. He speaks at least four languages, idolizes Michael Jordan and Jean-Claude Van Damme, and likes good food and wine. He is into basketball, rollerblading, skiing, golf, and snowboarding. Analysts think he is chubby just like his grandfather, Kim Il Sung, the founder of the North Korean state.
We aren’t even sure what Jong Un looks like now. There is a photo of a North Korean official who may be the young Kim. If that person is indeed Jong Un, then he bears a striking resemblance to his granddad, much more so than his pop.
Many bemoan the fact that we just don’t know that much about the young Kim. Yes, it would be nice if we had more information about him, but there is only one thing we really need to keep in mind at this moment: Jong Un is ill-prepared to take over as North Korea’s third leader.
For one thing, the North Korean regime is a snake pit and Jong Un is a hamster. Kim Il Sung spent more than two decades getting his son ready to rule and was revered when he died of a heart attack in 1994. Kim Jong Il, on the other hand, has now spent just a little over two years grooming his son.
I think it’s interesting that North Korea is supposed to be one of the last bastions of true communism on this planet, when in fact they are nothing but a petty monarchy. But it seems that the Chinese are on the right path to taking over the regime. If they can buy enough senior officers to either promote a coup or to at least prevent Kim the Younger from taking over, then they may have something there. After all, we do know that China is not short of cash. They should start using it, now.
Maybe it would be better for the North Koreans if China took over (if only behind the scenes). They undoubtedly would force some reforms on the NK regime to shore up its economy, and ease the threat of war and the threat of massive Korean refugees fleeing into China. Perhaps NK could even become moderately prosperous (which, in their case, might mean no more eating grass because there’s no food). Tensions with South Korea could also be eased, although the Chinese will never allow reunification. And the main thing is, there wouldn’t be a deranged pseudo-king in charge any more.
Well, it’s a better idea than the status quo, but we’ll see what happens.
Greetings:
I think that your analysis provides a thought-worthy scenario.. On the other hand, though, I don’t see the ChiComs much wanting to fix one of the USofA’s bigger and longer-term problems. If the ChiComs do assume some level of control of NK’s government, why not let the pestering continue. As to improving NK’s economy, what economy? The ChiComs seem now to be putting down enough stink on their own in the area. If they do have significant control of NK, why not play that out “sub rosa”. Alternatively, the Koreans, both North and South, have thousands of years of history with China and do maintain a sense of cultural separateness.
One of the things that struck me during the Choenan atrocity, was a certain similarity with Jong-Il’s involvement with terror attacks during his (much longer) grooming period. After the naval skirmish between the North and the South earlier this year, I can see it as an opportunity for Jung-Un to make his “bones”, if you get my drift, prior to his ascendency.
Since the recent analog-to-digital TV signal conversion, I have be getting the KBS (South Korean) broadcasts. What has struck me is the almost spiritual, in a Confucian kind of way, effect than the division of Korea has had on its people. Like a man in love with an evil woman, the South will almost always be vulnerable to the thuggish North. Many of their (subtitled) dramas involve contacts and conflicts between the two governments in an atmosphere of significant melancholy.
Sir it is not possible to make chicken soup out of a chicken $hit regime like the one in North Korea. It is an awful land with no incentive only an insane dictatorship. perhaps if the Chinese communist took it over and showed them what they have learned about capitalism within a communist dictatorship then something might just happen, at least it is a beginning.
North Korea will be wiped out by the United States in a few minutes if it were not for Russians and the Chinese, and the fact that we now have the worst Commander in Chief (I hate to put that in caps) ever elected as president God Bless and in November vote out as many democrats as possible to get this country back in balance!
GOD so willing!
If China “takes over” it will be the long delayed Mogul-Manchu-Chinese take-over that the Koreans have fought for over a thousand years.
NK is only dangerous because China let`s them be dangerous…
On the day Kim Jung-Ill Announces his successor is the day Front Mission: Evloved comes out and the player has to stop a North Korea-China offensive
Timing is PERFECT!
Time to get into my WANZER! (giant robots you use)
So the youngest and smallest of the Kim brothers is now going to be the new ruler. From now on he’ll be known as Tiny Kim.