[imText1]An analysis of North Korean media reports by South Korean NGO Network for North Korean Democracy and Human Rights (NKNet) suggests that the likelihood of Kim Jong Eun emerging to take the euphemistic title of the successor, \u201cthe Party Center,\u201d and membership of the Central Committee of the Chosun Workers\u2019 Party at the Party Delegates\u2019 Conference in September is \u201cexceedingly high.\u201d<\/p>\n
It also adds weight to the idea that Kim Jong Il is in the process of handing some of the power which has concentrated in the military during the Military-first Politics era back to the Party.<\/p>\n
Releasing its findings in the latest issue of NK Vision, NKNet analyzed copies of the eponymous Chosun People\u2019s Army publication and the Chosun Workers\u2019 Party organ, Rodong Shinmun. <\/p>\n
Rodong Shinmun, it explained, employed the phrase \u201cthe Party Center\u201d in its June 30th edition for the first time in 16 years, while Chosun People\u2019s Army employed it in a particularly prominent manner on May 15th.<\/p>\n
In that edition of the publication, a three verse song entitled \u201cLet\u2019s defend the Party Center with our lives!\u201d was featured alongside a full-page image of the marching military. This song, which conveys a sense of the absolute need to preserve Kim Jong Il\u2019s safety at any cost, spread throughout society and the military during the 1980s after Kim Jong Il was publicly announced as the official successor to Kim Il Sung at the Workers\u2019 Party Congress of October, 1980. <\/p>\n
In the same issue, Chosun People\u2019s Army reminded readers what Kim Jong Il had himself emphasized, \u201cThe People’s Army should continue to hold on to the slogan, \u2018Defend the Party Center with our lives,\u2019 as we did in the past.\u201d<\/p>\n
It should be noted that before Kim Jong Il emerged as the official successor to his father, he was referred to as \u201cthe Party Center\u201d in publications and official documents.<\/p>\n
Kim was appointed to the Central Committee of the Party on February 13, 1974, and thereafter seized authority over appointments and inspections as a member of the Politic Committee, which later became the Politburo, Organizing Secretary, and Director of the Guidance Department and Propaganda and Agitation Department. <\/p>\n
On the very next day, February 14, 1974, Rodong Shinmun started calling Kim Jong Il the \u201cParty Center,\u201d noting, \u201cHonoring the call of the Great Su-ryeong and the claim of the Party Center\u2026\u201d <\/p>\n
After that, Kim Jong Il began to be referred to overtly as the Party Center by officials, the media and internal documents. <\/p>\n
Elsewhere, in its June 13th publication, Chosun People\u2019s Army also clearly emphasized the position that \u201cthe Workers\u2019 Party leads the military\u201d in an article, \u201cThe leadership of the Party is the life of the People\u2019s Army,\u201d the NK Vision report added.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe should bear in mind that we can never think of the development, reinforcement and existence of the People’s Army departing from the leadership of the Party, and the People’s Army will achieve victory thanks to the leadership of the Party,\u201d the article said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[imText1]An analysis of North Korean media reports by South Korean NGO Network for North Korean Democracy and Human Rights (NKNet) suggests that the likelihood of Kim Jong Eun emerging to take the euphemistic title of the successor, \u201cthe Party Center,\u201d and membership of the Central Committee of the Chosun Workers\u2019 Party at the Party Delegates\u2019 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":170,"featured_media":12851,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[645],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy"],"yoast_head":"\n