While Kim Jong Eun has naturally been the most talked about person in the process of laying Kim Jong Il to rest over the last ten days or so, there has always been one man behind this new leader, like an artist at the easel, guiding his image. That man has been Jang Sung Taek, and Kim Young Hwan, a researcher with NKNet, believes that the work of Jang will continue even more than before to be a crucial factor in the establishment of Kim Jong Eun’s power now that Kim Jong Il has left the picture.<\/p>\n
[imText1]Speaking with Daily NK earlier today, Kim explained, “During the procession of the cortege, the top three ranking people were there, meaning Jang Sung Taek along with Kim Jong Eun and Lee Young Ho, but among them, Kim Jong Eun is leaning most heavily on Jang Sung Taek.” <\/p>\n
“Jang Sung Taek and Lee Young Ho will play the greatest roles in the Kim Jong Eun system,” he went on to assert. “In particular, Kim Jong Eun is leaning more and more on Jang Sung Taek, so Director Jang exercises immense power; in other words, the role of a Prince Regent.”<\/p>\n
But, he went on, “This ‘Prince Regent’ relationship connotes considerable dangers. If the status of Jang Sung Taek the ‘Prince Regent’ gets higher in the long term then Kim Jong Eun may cast him aside; on the other hand, Jang Sung Taek may rebel.”<\/p>\n
“In the end, Lee Young Ho and Jang Sung Taek coming to play the role of seizing North Korea’s elite is a double-edged sword for Kim Jong Eun,” Kim noted. “Kim can extend his ability to seize power with cadres through these two figures, but if Jang Sung Taek and Lee Young Ho have different intentions they could become dangerous for him.” <\/p>\n
‘Kim Jong Il also worried about this, so while he used Jang Sung Taek he also pursued a twin-pronged strategy to check him, but Kim Jong Eun may not know how to adopt the same system. It will be hard for Kim Jong Eun to maintain his power securely going forward,” Kim concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
While Kim Jong Eun has naturally been the most talked about person in the process of laying Kim Jong Il to rest over the last ten days or so, there has always been one man behind this new leader, like an artist at the easel, guiding his image. That man has been Jang Sung Taek, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":169,"featured_media":17857,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wikipediapreview_detectlinks":true,"footnotes":""},"categories":[644],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-analysis-and-opinion"],"yoast_head":"\n