[imText1]Kim Jong Il has banned talks of his successor at the governing table declaring that he will continue to exercise his power as the longest dictator, reported the Mainichi on the 4th.
According to a source in Beijing the newspaper reported “Last year, Kim Jong Il told his elite officials ‘In future, I plan to be the highest leader working for the longest period in time. Possibly 80 years, even unto 90 years.’”
Officials accepting this declaration responded “At the least 80 years, Kim Jong Il will reign on the first frontier for the next 15 years. Until then, let’s reframe from speaking on the issue of successor” reported the source. As a result, discussions on Kim Jong Il’s successor have completely vanished from the governing table, the source added.
Until now there have been 3 candidates for Kim Jong Il’s successor including his first son Kim Jung Nam (35) with Sung Hye Rim (died May, 2002), Kim’s second son Kim Jong Chol (26) and third son Kim Jong Woon (23) with a Korean-Japanese Koh Young Hee who was repatriated to the North (died June 2004).
In addition to this list is Kim Jong Il’s brother in-law Jang Sung Taek, the Chief Director for Chosun Worker’s Party, whose succession is also being deliberated.
On a different note, every year a large celebration has been held in honor of Kim Jong Il’s birthday (February 16th) though this year, Kim Jong Il was known to have made orders “It would be better to celebrate only April 15th Kim Il Sung’s birthday.”
A North Korea researcher in Beijing analyzed “When we consider North Korea’s current circumstances, it would be difficult to organize large scale celebratory events for 2.16 or 4.14.”
The researcher explained “We can see that Kim Jong Il is trying to raise his favour with the nation by maintaining his centripetal force and downgrading his own celebrations while prioritizing the idolization of Kim Il Sung.”
