It’s too bad Kevorkian is no longer available.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who has made his first public appearance in five weeks, has been treated by “foreign doctors” because of an apparent leg injury, the South Korean ambassador to China said Tuesday. [Yonhap]
Sure, you say, someone else would just replace him, but I agree with Scott Snyder on this — without an obvious successor, his incapacitation would trigger a fight for succession. More than that, it would represent the death of the last viable symbol of the deiocracy.
It didn’t happen that way in the end, but it was Kim Il-sung’s brother being eyed for the succession back in the 70s, before the wily old fox Kim Jong-il wrestled power from him. The question to ask is not who can take over (as New Focus points out, any Kim can symbolize the Kim dynasty: Jong-cheol, Yo-jong, even Jong-nam in a pinch); the question ought to be how long the powers that be are given to organize it. Only a sudden death would certainly trigger uncertainty.
Jong-Chol, the one with the hormonal imbalance? I don’t think so. Yo-Jong, a twentysomething female leading the one of the world’s most patriarchal states? Ditto. As is, KJU is hardly a viable symbol himself.
“KJU is hardly a viable symbol himself.”
And from what I understand, North Koreans themselves know this.
If no-one else there’s always the Man in the Iron Mask himself. 60 is not a bad age for a dynastic tyrant at all, and if that photo is anything to go by he was a fit- and youthful-looking 55-year-old. And his pedigree could hardly be better … especially (but not only) if you wanted to keep the Kim Il Sung dynastic legitimacy while quietly establishing some distance from KJI and his legacy. On the other hand, it would presumably take a whole lot of careful work to rebuild his profile in the state media after decades of unperson status. And similarly it’s hard to see how he could take power without lots of score-settling and upheaval in the background, especially in or around KJI’s old cat’s paw the OGD.