A leading North Korea researcher and adviser to South Korea's president says the North is experiencing some friction at the very top of the ruling Kim family. The North's leader may have temporarily halted a succession process to calm his son's ambitions.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Il appears to have been having disagreements with the son he hand picked to replace him one day, according to one of South Korea's most respected analysts of intelligence about the North.
Nam Sung-wook heads the Institute for National Security Strategy in Seoul. He is a key adviser to South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, and is widely seen as one of the South's best informed individuals about developments inside North Korea.
Nam told a forum this week, Kim Jong Il has not been pleased with his son, Kim Jong Eun.
During June and July, says Nam, Kim Jong Il has been arguing with his son about issues related to managing the country's military. He says the elder Kim has been exerting pressure on his son as well as senior North Korean official Jang Son-taek, a relative believed to be grooming him. That is why, says Nam, internal North Korean talk about the succession issue has been quiet since August.
Kim Jong Il is believed to have designated Kim Jong Eun, his youngest son, as an eventual successor earlier this year. Mr. Kim suffered an apparent stroke last summer, which may have fueled the urgency of establishing a succession process.
To read full Voice of America story — Go Here Now.
|
