ID :
49582
Mon, 03/09/2009 - 10:50
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/49582
The shortlink copeid
(2nd LD) N. Koreans vote in parliamentary elections
SEOUL, March 8 (Yonhap) -- North Koreans cast their ballots Sunday to elect new lawmakers, the country's media said, in long-overdue elections that experts say may possibly provide a clue to who will be the country's next leader.
Speculation has mounted over power succession in North Korea since leader Kim
Jong-il, 67, reportedly suffered a stroke last summer. The North's media have
recently emphasized the themes of "bloodline" and "inheritance," a possible
indication that the country may be preparing for another hereditary transfer of
power.
"All voters should more deeply cherish in their hearts their resolution to trust
only our dear leader and follow his military-first policy, even through rain and
snow," the Rodong Sinmun, the North's main newspaper published by the Workers'
Party, said in an editorial. It was carried by the Korean Central News Agency
(KCNA).
Sunday's voting, originally expected to be held by last September, was bypassed
amid rumors of Kim's poor health. When the North earlier this year rescheduled
the elections, many outsiders took it as a sign that the leader has made a good
recovery.
The Supreme People's Assembly is a rubber stamp parliament, but the election has
drawn keen outside attention because of the possibility that it may provide a
clue to the country's next leader.
There have been widespread rumors that the leader's third and youngest son,
Jong-un, 26, was running for a seat in the Assembly, a move that may indicate he
is in line to succeed his father.
The Daily NK, a leading Seoul-based Internet newspaper on North Korea, reported
Sunday that a candidate named Kim Jong-un is running in a military district near
the western inter-Korean sea border, but it said there was no mention of whether
he was Kim Jong-il's son. Citing a source inside North Korea, the report said the
military in his electorate in Haeju oversees the western sea border called the
Northern Limit Line, where two bloody skirmishes occurred in 1999 and 2002.
North Korea has recently warned of clashes should South Korea invade "even one
inch" into its western sea territory.
The full list of new lawmakers is expected to be announced by North Korean media
Monday, Seoul's Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Ho-nyoun said.
The voter turnout as of noon was 71.4 percent, the KCNA said.
There is no competition in Sunday's elections, with only one candidate nominated
to run in each district. The leader himself registered his candidacy in a
military district in Pyongyang.
The outgoing North Korean parliament was formed in 2003 for a five-year term.
Virtually no dissenting vote is allowed in North Korean elections.
Testifying to a parliamentary committee on Feb. 25, South Korea's National
Intelligence Service chief, Won Sei-hoon, said, "A three-generation power
succession appears to be possible" in North Korea.
Kim Jong-il took over in the first father-to-son power succession in a communist
country when his father and president, Kim Il-sung, died of heart failure in
1994.
Cheong Seong-chang, a researcher at the independent Sejong Institute in Seoul,
said the third son's parliamentary seat, if confirmed, may indicate that the
succession process in North Korea is picking up speed.
"For the North Korean power elite, it's necessary to hold a lawmaker's post in
addition to other high positions," Cheong said.
South Korea's state-run Institute for National Security Strategy said in a report
in December that a new generation of young economic technocrats may likely emerge
through the elections to prepare for the post-Kim era.
Some experts cautioned against reading too much into the elections, arguing that
North Korea is currently concerned more about its sickly economy rather than a
power transfer.
"North Korea wants to bolster its national economic drive by letting its people
participate in the political process, the election," Paik Hak-soon with the
Sejong Institute said. "Chairman Kim Jong-il also, I'm sure, wants to show that
he is in firm control, despite the suspected stroke he suffered."
North Korea has set 2012, the 100th anniversary of the country's founder Kim
Il-sung's birth, as the target year for fully rebuilding its economy.
North Korea's economy is in deep trouble, forcing the country to rely on outside
aid to help feed its people. Its 2007 gross national income was just 2.8 percent
of South Korea's, according to Seoul's central bank.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
Speculation has mounted over power succession in North Korea since leader Kim
Jong-il, 67, reportedly suffered a stroke last summer. The North's media have
recently emphasized the themes of "bloodline" and "inheritance," a possible
indication that the country may be preparing for another hereditary transfer of
power.
"All voters should more deeply cherish in their hearts their resolution to trust
only our dear leader and follow his military-first policy, even through rain and
snow," the Rodong Sinmun, the North's main newspaper published by the Workers'
Party, said in an editorial. It was carried by the Korean Central News Agency
(KCNA).
Sunday's voting, originally expected to be held by last September, was bypassed
amid rumors of Kim's poor health. When the North earlier this year rescheduled
the elections, many outsiders took it as a sign that the leader has made a good
recovery.
The Supreme People's Assembly is a rubber stamp parliament, but the election has
drawn keen outside attention because of the possibility that it may provide a
clue to the country's next leader.
There have been widespread rumors that the leader's third and youngest son,
Jong-un, 26, was running for a seat in the Assembly, a move that may indicate he
is in line to succeed his father.
The Daily NK, a leading Seoul-based Internet newspaper on North Korea, reported
Sunday that a candidate named Kim Jong-un is running in a military district near
the western inter-Korean sea border, but it said there was no mention of whether
he was Kim Jong-il's son. Citing a source inside North Korea, the report said the
military in his electorate in Haeju oversees the western sea border called the
Northern Limit Line, where two bloody skirmishes occurred in 1999 and 2002.
North Korea has recently warned of clashes should South Korea invade "even one
inch" into its western sea territory.
The full list of new lawmakers is expected to be announced by North Korean media
Monday, Seoul's Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Ho-nyoun said.
The voter turnout as of noon was 71.4 percent, the KCNA said.
There is no competition in Sunday's elections, with only one candidate nominated
to run in each district. The leader himself registered his candidacy in a
military district in Pyongyang.
The outgoing North Korean parliament was formed in 2003 for a five-year term.
Virtually no dissenting vote is allowed in North Korean elections.
Testifying to a parliamentary committee on Feb. 25, South Korea's National
Intelligence Service chief, Won Sei-hoon, said, "A three-generation power
succession appears to be possible" in North Korea.
Kim Jong-il took over in the first father-to-son power succession in a communist
country when his father and president, Kim Il-sung, died of heart failure in
1994.
Cheong Seong-chang, a researcher at the independent Sejong Institute in Seoul,
said the third son's parliamentary seat, if confirmed, may indicate that the
succession process in North Korea is picking up speed.
"For the North Korean power elite, it's necessary to hold a lawmaker's post in
addition to other high positions," Cheong said.
South Korea's state-run Institute for National Security Strategy said in a report
in December that a new generation of young economic technocrats may likely emerge
through the elections to prepare for the post-Kim era.
Some experts cautioned against reading too much into the elections, arguing that
North Korea is currently concerned more about its sickly economy rather than a
power transfer.
"North Korea wants to bolster its national economic drive by letting its people
participate in the political process, the election," Paik Hak-soon with the
Sejong Institute said. "Chairman Kim Jong-il also, I'm sure, wants to show that
he is in firm control, despite the suspected stroke he suffered."
North Korea has set 2012, the 100th anniversary of the country's founder Kim
Il-sung's birth, as the target year for fully rebuilding its economy.
North Korea's economy is in deep trouble, forcing the country to rely on outside
aid to help feed its people. Its 2007 gross national income was just 2.8 percent
of South Korea's, according to Seoul's central bank.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
