Wednesday, October 05, 2005

Kim Jong Il Could Soon Name His Successor

Kim Jong Il Could Soon Name His Successor

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il could soon name his successor to head the hard-line communist nation, a Russian news agency reported Tuesday. The ruling Korean Workers' Party celebrates its 60th anniversary on Monday, and an announcement of the North's next leader could be timed around that event, an unidentified diplomatic official in Pyongyang told the ITAR-Tass news agency, which has a correspondent in the North Korean capital. One option for Kim, 63, is to carry communism's first and only dynasty into the next generation of his family, which founded the Stalinist regime in 1948. Another option is to hand over the government _ and its possible nuclear arsenal _ to someone outside the family, such as a figure from the hard-line Korea People's Army. The ITAR-Tass source said the decision could be made either at a closed party leadership meeting or a party congress, which would usually be announced a month in advance, ITAR-Tass reported. No plans for such a meeting have yet been made public. Many analysts caution that North Korea is such a reclusive society that any predictions amount to little more than speculation. Kim has three sons and all of them have "approximately equal chances" of inheriting leadership of the reclusive state, according to ITAR- Tass.

3 Comments:

At October 05, 2005 8:24 AM, Blogger Mike H. said...

Excuse me but what the hell is he going to do in retirement? Move to Mexico? I thought that the rules of the game had the leaders dying in office.

 
At October 05, 2005 11:22 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

Interesting Issues! Looking forward to your next post...

 
At October 05, 2005 9:24 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

Mike h.

Just wait if his eldest son takes over (apparently he is now out of favour). He was the one caught sneaking into Japan on a false passport - purportedly to see Disney World. You just can't make this stuff up.

 

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