As September approaches, the number of analysts and experts forecasting that Kim Jong Eun will take on one or more positions at the core of the Central Committee of the Party at the 3rd Chosun Workers’ Party Delegates’ Conference is growing exponentially.
Cheong Seong Chang, a senior research fellow at the Sejong Institute, has added his voice to the clamor with “The Meaning of the 3rd Chosun Workers’ Party Delegates’ Conference” in the August issue of the institute’s monthly magazine, “North Korea.” According to Cheong, “(At the 3rd Chosun Workers’ Delegates’ Conference) Kim Jong Eun will be nominated as an important official in the Party and realize the network required to control the nation, military, and entire society by means of the Party.”
Cheong said, “North Korea calling the 3rd Chosun Workers’ Party Delegates’ Conference to hold the ‘election of the highest organs of the Party’ means that they will hold an election for the Central Committee of the Party, which is the ‘leader of the revolution’.”
“The very rapid establishment of the succession system for Kim Jong Eun is deeply related to the unstable health condition of Kim Jong Il,” Cheong added.
“There is a high possibility of Kim Jong Eun’s successor status being formally announced during the 3rd Chosun Workers’ Delegates’ Conference,” the article continues. “First among the positions Kim Jong Eun could assume is ‘Organizing Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party’.”
The Central Committee of the Party is the main practical political decision making and implementation body, and among member secretaries, ‘Organizing Secretary’ has the greatest power. Kim Jong Eun is allegedly already the de facto ‘Organizing Secretary’ covering matters like personnel and accompanying Kim Jong Il for his on-site guidance visits.
Therefore, Cheong said, “At the 3rd Chosun Workers’ delegates’ conference, there is a high possibility of Kim Jong Il, the top secretary, officially nominating Kim Jong Eun as organizing secretary and institutionally formalizing his real influence.”
Additionally, Cheong added, “Kim Jong Eun will be appointed ‘Military Commissioner of the Central Committee of the Party’. He is already being called ‘Captain Kim’ and ‘Youth Captain’ and is the target of military elite loyalty.”
“Kim Jong Eun will also become a member of the Politburo or ‘Member of the Standing Committee of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Party’,” he went on.
In addition, Cheong went on, the National Defense Commission and Party are likely to be more closely linked at the event, while some key associates of Kim Jong Il may see their power grow still further.
“At the 3rd Chosun Workers’ Party Delegates’ Conference, there is a high possibility of candidate members of the Politburo being promoted to full membership, and of Jang Sung Taek, Director of the Ministry of Administration of the Chosun Workers’ Party, who serves a critical role in the establishment of the succession system, being elected chairman of the Politburo,” he said.
In addition, he anticipated, “Most members of the National Defense Commission who do not have titles in the Politburo will be elected as members or candidate members of the Politburo, which will strengthen the unification of the Party and military.”
He predicted, “In the future, the ‘Kim Jong Il-Kim Jong Eun joint administration’, where Kim Jong Il has greater influence than Kim Jong Eun, will be implemented as the ‘Kim Jong Eun-Kim Jong Il administration’, where Kim Jong Eun has greater influence than Kim Jong Il, except in the fields of diplomacy and South Korea issues.”
