North Korea Replaces Septuagenarian Generals With Other Septuagenarian Generals
This may be a sign of Kim Jong Il’s new strength and power. Then again, it may be a sign of his new weakness. We know very little about these new guys, so it may be a sign of a move toward a harder line. Then again, it may just be a way to secure their loyalty. And as I think you can all see by now, we have very few facts and a lot of worthless speculation in the guise of analysis. But enjoy:
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il Wednesday named new chiefs for the communist nation’s military in an unexpected military shakeup ahead of parliamentary elections next month, Yonhap News reported quoting a North Korean news agency Wednesday.
“Vice Marshal of the Korean People’s Army Kim Yong-chun was appointed as minister of the People’s Armed Forces of the National Defense Commission of the DPRK,” the Korean Central News Agency said. The reshuffle was issued under the name of the North Korean leader.
Korean People’s Army General Ri Yong-ho was promoted to the post of chief of the KPA General Staff, the report said.
North Korea usually shakes up its military and Cabinet after parliamentary elections. A new assembly reappoints leader Kim as chairman of the National Defense Commission, the backbone of the North’s 1.1 million-strong army. [Korea Times]
The new top military brass appeared to be combat savvy and are known to be close confidants to Kim, analysts said. The shakeup should not be overstretched to portend imminent military action, they cautioned, but seems to carry an intended message — the aging leader is still in firm control of the North’s military even after a reported stroke in August, and any important decisions, including missile activities and the naming of his successor, will be his own.
Cha Doo-hyeogn, a North Korea specialist with the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, a state-run think tank, said the North Korean leader maintains his absolute power by regularly changing the top military leaders.
“Kim promotes the military as the nation’s top priority, but he knows the danger of it. Characteristic of a regime controlled by one man, the leader does not give all the power to a single person,” Cha said.
“With the shakeup, Kim Jong-il is showing that he is powerful and is the only one who can decide on military action and a successor,” he said. [Yonhap]
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il appears to be expanding his country’s military options and paving the way for power succession by promoting a loyal commander and his point man on nuclear weapons development, defense officials and experts said Thursday.
They also said the reshuffle, declared through the state media, is aimed at showing the world that Kim is in full control of his 1.2-million-strong — possibly nuclear-armed — military after a reported stroke last summer.
North Korea announced Wednesday that Kim Yong-chun, a ranking member of the National Defense Commission that controls the troops, was appointed as the communist state’s defense minister.
Kim, 73, who led the North’s joint chiefs of staff for nearly a decade until 2007, has been a key player in the country’s nuclear weapons development, experts and defense ministry officials said.
Considered a hardliner who increased public appearances when relations between the Koreas turned tense, Kim has been rumored to openly back Kim Jong-il’s second and third sons as successors. [Yonhap]
And just to show you how opaque this system is, the first photograph of reported successor Kim Jong Un has emerged. It depicts him at the age of 11.
The photo shows the boy with a short haircut and a faint smile. Fujimoto said in an interview with KBS that Jong-un gave him the photo when he left North Korea in 2001, asking it not be made public. The former chef served Kim Jong-il for 13 years until his departure.
“He (Jong-un) said he can’t give his recent photo,” Fujimoto said. The former chef recalled Jong-un as “young, but full of insight and the power of action befitting a future leader.” But Fujimoto also said Jong-un will have to have the support of Jang Song-thaek, the current leader’s brother-in-law and reportedly second in power, to succeed his father. [Yonhap]
Since Yonhap published its grand scoop of Jong Un’s succession, I’ve seen zero evidence in KCNA or anywhere else to support it. It’s entirely possible that Yonhap was taken in by disinformation designed to keep us guessing, or to plumb out leakers inside the regime. Not that this matters so much. None of the three sons could be more than a figurehead anyway.