Changchun, China — The latest word in Pyongyang is that the true source of some negative sentiment about Kim Jong Eun is none other than the powerful husband and wife team of Director of Administration Department Jang Sung Taek and Director of the Light Industry Department (and Kim Jong Il’s sister) Kim Kyung Hee.
The North Korean authorities have sped up the process of the succession in the wake of last year’s Party Delegates’ Conference, but public opinion about the successor has only gotten worse, and now it is being suggested that some of the most widespread negative rumors and complaints have their roots in the Jang-Kim household.
One source from Pyongyang told The Daily NK on the 11th, “One rumor, ‘The reason why politics are in a bit of a mess is down to Kim Jong Eun,’ is spreading alongside another one, that ‘Jang Sung Tae and Kim Kyung Hee spread the rumor’.”
The source pointed out that people know the couple is never very far from Kim Jong Eun’s side, so they assume that the two know all of Kim Jong Eun’s political stains. Therefore, he said that people are pointing to the two as the source of the negative rumors.
“These kinds of rumors are coming from people who know well about everything Kim Jong Eun does, namely Jang Sung Taek and Kim Kyung Hee,” the source said.
With many years of experience of watching political maneuvering among North Korea’s elite, people are wondering whether it was wise to keep Jang Sung Taek once the succession started to get underway, it seems.
“‘They should have cut off the branches completely before that,’ are the words coming from some quarters,” the source explained.
Nevertheless, the source also said that there are no signs or rumors that Kim Jong Eun is planning to move against Jang Sung Taek.
The source also repeated a story previously heard internationally; that Kim Jong Eun tried to eliminate his half brother, Kim Jong Nam.
“There is one story that Kim Jong Eun tried to kill Kim Jong Nam overseas because he had said he was against the succession, but Kim Jong Il blocked it,” the source specified.
However, he also noted that people do not have any interest in Kim Jong Eun’s brothers, and most do not even know about them.
