ID :
147459
Tue, 10/26/2010 - 13:00
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/147459
The shortlink copeid
Former chef says heir to N.K.'s regime showed skills of leader as child
SEOUL, Oct. 25 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's handpicked next leader Kim Jong-un
showed remarkable leadership from a young age, but he is unlikely to be able to
open up and reform the regime that he will be inheriting from his father anytime
soon, a former chef who served the ruling family said Monday.
"When Kim Jong-un played with his brothers, even at the young age of seven, he
would lead them into doing something." Kenji Fujimoto said. "In this way, he
showed clear signs of leadership from his childhood," he said at a panel
discussion organized here by Open Radio for North Korea, a broadcast run by North
Korean defectors for transmission into the North.
Fujimoto served Pyongyang's top leader Kim Jong-il as a personal chef from
1988-2001 and is one of the very few who saw his third and youngest son, Jong-un,
and can speak publicly about him. He mentioned the possibility of Kim Jong-un's
succession in his book published in 2003, describing him as an ambitious figure
who took after his father most closely in appearance and temperament. He
published a new book in Japan titled "The North's successor, Kim Jong-un."
The heir, shrouded in secrecy other than the fact that he was educated in Europe
and likes basketball, made his debut last month through a meteoric rise to a
four-star general and a post in the powerful defense commission of the North's
ruling Workers' Party. Even his age is unconfirmed, and he is believed to be 28
at most.
Fujimoto pointed to the urgency of the heir needing to feed the North's 24
million impoverished people but said it will not be easy.
"The only way for the North Korean people to eat well is through reforming and
opening up (the economy)," Fujimoto said, but such policies will not be easy for
the incoming leadership to adopt.
"It will take 10 years. (Kim Jong-un) is someone who has inherited power, and
therefore, for the next five to six years, he will have to maintain the current
political system. Only then, will it be possible for at least a tenth of his own plans to be reflected in policy," he said.
showed remarkable leadership from a young age, but he is unlikely to be able to
open up and reform the regime that he will be inheriting from his father anytime
soon, a former chef who served the ruling family said Monday.
"When Kim Jong-un played with his brothers, even at the young age of seven, he
would lead them into doing something." Kenji Fujimoto said. "In this way, he
showed clear signs of leadership from his childhood," he said at a panel
discussion organized here by Open Radio for North Korea, a broadcast run by North
Korean defectors for transmission into the North.
Fujimoto served Pyongyang's top leader Kim Jong-il as a personal chef from
1988-2001 and is one of the very few who saw his third and youngest son, Jong-un,
and can speak publicly about him. He mentioned the possibility of Kim Jong-un's
succession in his book published in 2003, describing him as an ambitious figure
who took after his father most closely in appearance and temperament. He
published a new book in Japan titled "The North's successor, Kim Jong-un."
The heir, shrouded in secrecy other than the fact that he was educated in Europe
and likes basketball, made his debut last month through a meteoric rise to a
four-star general and a post in the powerful defense commission of the North's
ruling Workers' Party. Even his age is unconfirmed, and he is believed to be 28
at most.
Fujimoto pointed to the urgency of the heir needing to feed the North's 24
million impoverished people but said it will not be easy.
"The only way for the North Korean people to eat well is through reforming and
opening up (the economy)," Fujimoto said, but such policies will not be easy for
the incoming leadership to adopt.
"It will take 10 years. (Kim Jong-un) is someone who has inherited power, and
therefore, for the next five to six years, he will have to maintain the current
political system. Only then, will it be possible for at least a tenth of his own plans to be reflected in policy," he said.
