Kim names third son as his heir

SEOUL – North Korea’s ailing leader Kim Jong-Il – believed to be gearing up for another barrage of missile tests – has named his youngest son as the eventual heir to the family dynasty, reports said yesterday.

The hardline communist state has defied global condemnation of its second nuclear test last week by firing a series of short-range missiles, and analysts believe Kim may be trying to bolster his authority ahead of a succession.
The North is reported to be preparing to test-fire a long-range missile capable in theory of reaching Alaska from a new northwest base, as well as several medium-range missiles from along its southeast coast.
There has been intense speculation about who would succeed North Korea’s ‘Dear Leader’ since he was reported to have suffered a stroke last August. Kim, now 67, is thought to have since recovered and resumed most of his duties.
A South Korean lawmaker briefed by intelligence officials said yesterday that Seoul’s intelligence services have received word that Kim has nominated his third son, 26-year-old Jong-Un, to succeed him.
Little is known about Jong-Un, but the basketball fan, who was educated at an international school in Switzerland, has been described as a ‘chip off the old block’ by his father’s former Japanese sushi chef.
‘Jong-Un is known to have the potential to become a strong, ruthless leader. He has a take-charge personality,’ Cheong Seong-Chang, a North Korea expert at the South’s Sejong Institute, told AFP.
Jong-Un was born to the leader’s third wife, Ko Yong-Hi, who reportedly died of breast cancer in 2004.
Kim’s eldest son – Jong-Nam, 37, who was born to a different mother – apparently spoiled his prospects of becoming leader after being deported from Japan in 2001 for trying to enter the country on a forged passport.
– Nampa-AFP