Shenyang, China — Among reports from various domestic and foreign media regarding the possible succession of Kim Jong Il’s third son Kim Jong Woon (26), rumors have been circulating that one or all of the Workers’ Party, National Security Agency and military have been training the future leader of North Korea.
In particular, there are several rumors about Jong Woon’s position: some military authorities say he holds a minor role in the National Defense Commission, and others insist he has become a Senior Colonel in Ministry of the People’s Armed Forces. The additional military positions mentioned in the rumors are Lieutenant General in the General Political Bureau and Lieutenant General in the General Staff. After passing around inside North Korea, a number of such fragmented rumors have leaked to the outside world through local news sources, experts or sources inside the country.
What is noteworthy is that, in most regions, the fact that Kim Jong Woon is Ko Yong Hee’s son is apparently well-known, but a majority of people think he is 33, according to local sources, which might be a centrally-orchestrated ploy to cover up his real age, which could be perceived as too young to be a trusted leader in such a seniority-cased culture.
Such machinations are not new, either. Kim Jong Il, in order to emphasize a “thirty year” difference between himself and Kim Il Sung, has advertised the year of his birth since the early 1980s as one year later than it actually was.
In Pyongyang, three particular rumors have been circulating. One is the position that Kim Jong Woon has been receiving succession training from the Pyongyang National Security Agency as a Lieutenant General. According to the rumor, within the NSA, the atmosphere has apparently been welcoming due to the potential boost it could bring to the agency.
Another rumor is that Kim Jong Woon has been receiving succession training from the Ministry of the People’s Armed Forces as a Senior Colonel. At the delegates’ meeting of the Supreme People’s Assembly’s (SPA), Kim Jong Woon is rumored to have come forward as a candidate for the relevant unit under an alias and has been familiarizing himself with the task of rear service.
The third rumor has been that he has begun training in a minor position with the National Defense Commission. The rumor says Kim Jong Il began as an instructor for the Korean Workers’ Party (KWP), but in order to raise his influence over the military in a country where military politics come first, he made his son, Jong Woon, begin training at the Commission symbolically.
In North Hamkyung Province, the rumor that Kim Jong Woon has been going to and from work as a Lieutenant General in the Political Bureau and receiving succession training has gained the most credence. What has specifically surfaced is the idea that Kim Jong Woon has begun a large-scale political project to reform the fundamental principles of government.
According to the source of Shinuiju, the Morning Star General (Jong Woon) pledged to Kim Jong Il to “set the features of the soldiers’ ideological mindset straight.” This accounts for the recent orders for abstinence in each military unit and the wave of fervent political ideological education.
In Hwanghae Province, rumor has it that Kim Jong Il’s Escort Bureau has conferred General status on Jong Woon.
In this story, the explanation for the Escort Bureau conducting the succession training is attributed to the fact that the Bureau’s devotion towards Kim Jong Il is the strongest, so not only does it raise the smallest risk of rebellion, but Jong Woon can receive the succession training at a close distance from Kim Jong Il.
Around Shinuiju regions on the North Korea-China border, the rumor which has been circulating is that Kim Jong Woon has been receiving succession training from the KWP’s Guidance Division. The reason behind this is that cultural education related to succession has been carried out by the military, but actual succession training has been directly led by the Party itself.
According to a Shinuiju source, Kim Jong Woon has been known since the outset as the Morning Star General among the Central Party officials and has been receiving succession training from the Central Party Guidance Division. However, specific duties are not known.
Among domestic experts, the prevailing view is that the Party is in control of the military and the National Security Agency, so there is no need for Jong Woon to receive succession training by going to the army and that the Party will do it so as to be in step with Jang Sung Taek, who will play the leading role in the succession system.
It has been proposed, indeed, that the North’s current denial of the need for dialogue with the U.S. and insistence on striving for a strengthened nuclear weapons capability is related to the succession system. Here, the emphasis is that Kim Jong Il, by dominating the forces that are opposed to the succession and cementing North Korea’s nuclear position, has launched a hard-line drive to create safe and stable conditions for his successor.
