Kim Jong Il to Designate a Successor?
North Korea may call a congress before the end of the year to select a successor to leader Kim Jong Il, the Russian news agency ITAR-Tass reported Wednesday.
Citing “a reliable diplomatic source in Pyongyang,” North Korea’s capital, the news agency reported that the selection of the nation’s next leader by a regular congress of the Korean Workers’ Party would ensure political and social stability in the country.
“If the name of the present leader’s successor is announced this year, this will help, apart from avoiding struggle for power in future, to draw impressive foreign investments,” the diplomat emphasized. “Stability is the main thing for businessmen.”
According to the diplomat, one of Kim’s three sons is likely to be named as his successor. All of them have “approximately equal chances,” the source said.
I don’t consider anything from ITAR-Tass “reliable,” but as an open member of the revolutionary school of North Korea policy, I hope it’s true. Such a move, coming at a time of impending famine, could further alienate millions of Koreans, serving only to remind them of how unfavorably Kim Jong Il compares to his father in their eyes. If Kim Jong Il was so much less than his father, then how much less a man might the grandson be? Look at what this generation has produced so far.
Personally, I’m rooting for the gay one. It’s probably the most diversity we’re likely to see in the North Korean nomination process.