Top 5 in line
Imagine my delight when I found this article today.
The top 5 possible successors of Kim Jong Il. Because there is a conference coming up (the first of its kind in 44 years), there is speculation that KJI will name his successor. Who do you want to win?
5. Gen. Kim Kyok-sik
Gen. Kim Kyok-sik, in charge of troops in the southwest of North Korea and deemed a total loyalist, is believed to have personally masterminded and ordered the attack in March on the South Korean Navy corvette, the Cheonan, in which 46 South Korean sailors died.
“He may be one of the most trustworthy generals,” says Kim Tae-woo, a senior fellow at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses . He’s also one of the youngest, though still in his 60s. Analysts suggest that he might adopt a more independent course once Kim Jong-il steps down – and may not want to support Jang Song-thaek.
General Kim is a former Army chief of staff and was somewhat “demoted” to his present post, but clearly has support where it counts.
4. Kim Jong-un
Although Kim Jong-un is assumed somehow to be in line to succeed his father, neither his name nor his photograph have appeared in public until recently.
Kim Jong-un, who is 27, might be chosen as a front for others. He is the second son of Kim Jong-il and Ko Young-hee, a dancer who passed away in 2004. It is reported widely that he got a secondary education at a private school in Bern, Switzerland, where he was apparently a fan of the National Basketball Association. He is said to speak English, French, and German, and to be a hard competitor.
When he returned to North Korea, he was educated at Kim Il-sung University, named for his long-ruling grandfather, and has reportedly been given a mid-level post as an “inspector” at the National Defense Commission, the center of power in North Korea that is chaired by his father, Kim Jong-il.
Though he is thought to have been educated abroad, he is also considered to be an inexperienced, untested young man. Kim Jong-un may become a secretary of the Workers’ Party, of which Kim Jong-il is general secretary, or be given a minor post to suggest he’s training for bigger things.
3. Kim Kyong-hui
Kim Kyong-hui, Kim Jong-il’s younger sister, married to Kim's unofficial No. 2, Jang Song-thaek, is also a strong contender for power in her own right. Jang and Kim Kyong-hui reportedly met at university in North Korea and studied together in Moscow. In charge of light industry for the party, she’s been photographed with Kim Jong-il, as well as her husband, on frequent visits to industrial cities and military bases over the past year or two.
A member of the central committee of the party, she has a close relationship with Kim Jong-il and is assumed to have been instrumental in her husband’s renaissance as an important figure. It’s possible that Jang and his wife might wind up in senior party posts, but analysts wonder if military leaders might object to power falling into the hands of people who have never had significant military experience.
2. Jang Song-thaek
Jang Song-thaek is often cited as a possible “regent” if Kim Jong-un rises to a top post after Kim Jong-il passes on. Jang owes his power in large measure to the influence of his wife, Kim Jong-il’s younger sister, Kim Kyong-hui.
Mr. Jang rose through the ranks of the Workers’ Party but disappeared from view for several years. Then in 2006 he came back on the radar after the death of Kim Jong-ill's wife, Ko Young-hee, who may have viewed him as a threat to the rise of her son Kim Jong-un.
Jang, however, was not known to have had military experience when he was named to the national defense commission and then to the post of commission vice chairman in June. Now viewed as the second most-powerful man in the country, he accompanied Kim Jong-il to Beijing in May when both of them met China’s President Hu Jintao.
1. General O Kuk-ryol
General O Kuk-ryol, a former air force commander, is sometimes said to be the second most-powerful man in North Korea after Kim Jong-il, whom he has known from his youth.
In his late 70s, he has served as chief of the staff of the Army. He lost out in a dispute with another top general, then bounced back as head of the defense bureau of the Workers’ Party, a post that may make him a key player in the upcoming party conference.
