ID :
53008
Tue, 03/31/2009 - 07:54
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/53008
The shortlink copeid
N. Korea developed collective leadership after Kim Jong-il's stroke: report By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, March 30 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has developed a new collective leadership of military leaders and close aides to its leader, Kim Jong-il, since Kim's health failure last summer, a Congressional Research Service report has said.
"In August 2008, he suffered a severe stroke," said the report dated March 16.
"Since then, a collective decision-making apparatus has emerged, apparently
headed by his brother-in-law, Chang Song-taek."
The report contradicts the U.S. government's official position that it has no
concrete evidence to believe that a leadership change is imminent in North Korea.
"I think we've said many times that the leadership and how decisions are made in
North Korea is an opaque process on how they take their decisions," the State
Department's deputy spokesman, Gordon Duguid, said last month. "Who's actually
taking decisions is very opaque as well. We don't have any direct contact on the
ground and are not able to well judge what we hear coming out of North Korea."
Kim is believed to be recovering from the stroke and senior U.S. officials have
said that he is still in charge.
The CRS report, however, said that the collective apparatus "contains key North
Korean military commanders, and the military has been more influential in the
policy-making context since Kim's stroke."
"While U.S. and South Korean intelligence officials have stated that Kim Jong-il
appears to have partially recovered from the stroke, most experts believe the new
collective apparatus will continue to have an important policy-making role in the
future," the report said.
Reports said that Kim Jong-un, the third and youngest son of the North Korean
leader, has been tapped as heir apparent with the backing of Chang and Kim Ok,
44, the current de facto fourth wife of Kim Jong-il, who also serves as his
personal secretary.
Jong-un was born to the leader's third known wife, Ko Young-hee, who died of
breast cancer in 2004.
The second son, Jong-chol, 28, who was also born to Ko, seems to be sidelined in
the succession due to a weak temperament stemming from a hormone-related disease.
Jong-nam, the oldest son, who was born to the leader's late second wife, Song
Hye-rim, has been adrift in China since 2001, when he was caught trying to visit
Disneyland in Tokyo along with his son and wife on a forged passport.
A collective leadership with party and military leaders consolidating power
around one of the leader's three sons is the most favored scenario by experts
amid growing skepticism about another dynastic power succession in the North due
a lack of time to groom an heir.
Kim Jong-il spent two decades as an heir apparent before taking over in 1994,
when his father, Kim Il-sung, died of a heart attack.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last month touched on the sensitive issue
of North Korea's leadership change while on a weeklong Asian tour, attributing
North Korea's planned rocket launch and other provocative acts to a potential
power transition.
"There is an increasing amount of pressure because, if there is succession, even
if it is a peaceful succession, that creates even more uncertainty and it also
may encourage behaviors that are even more provocative as a way to consolidate
power within the society," she said.
South Korean and U.S. officials have said that the 67-year-old Kim Jong-il might
have undergone brain surgery for a stroke last fall amid reports that North
Korea's hardline military was taking advantage of the power vacuum to derail the
six-party talks, the latest session of which was deadlocked in December over how
to verify North Korea's nuclear facilities.
"You add to the already difficult challenge of working with the North Koreans the
uncertainties that come from questions about potential succession, this is a
difficult undertaking," Clinton said. "Our goal is to try to come up with a
strategy that is effective in influencing the behavior of the North Koreans at a
time when the whole leadership situation is somewhat unclear."
hdh@yna.co.kr
(END)
"In August 2008, he suffered a severe stroke," said the report dated March 16.
"Since then, a collective decision-making apparatus has emerged, apparently
headed by his brother-in-law, Chang Song-taek."
The report contradicts the U.S. government's official position that it has no
concrete evidence to believe that a leadership change is imminent in North Korea.
"I think we've said many times that the leadership and how decisions are made in
North Korea is an opaque process on how they take their decisions," the State
Department's deputy spokesman, Gordon Duguid, said last month. "Who's actually
taking decisions is very opaque as well. We don't have any direct contact on the
ground and are not able to well judge what we hear coming out of North Korea."
Kim is believed to be recovering from the stroke and senior U.S. officials have
said that he is still in charge.
The CRS report, however, said that the collective apparatus "contains key North
Korean military commanders, and the military has been more influential in the
policy-making context since Kim's stroke."
"While U.S. and South Korean intelligence officials have stated that Kim Jong-il
appears to have partially recovered from the stroke, most experts believe the new
collective apparatus will continue to have an important policy-making role in the
future," the report said.
Reports said that Kim Jong-un, the third and youngest son of the North Korean
leader, has been tapped as heir apparent with the backing of Chang and Kim Ok,
44, the current de facto fourth wife of Kim Jong-il, who also serves as his
personal secretary.
Jong-un was born to the leader's third known wife, Ko Young-hee, who died of
breast cancer in 2004.
The second son, Jong-chol, 28, who was also born to Ko, seems to be sidelined in
the succession due to a weak temperament stemming from a hormone-related disease.
Jong-nam, the oldest son, who was born to the leader's late second wife, Song
Hye-rim, has been adrift in China since 2001, when he was caught trying to visit
Disneyland in Tokyo along with his son and wife on a forged passport.
A collective leadership with party and military leaders consolidating power
around one of the leader's three sons is the most favored scenario by experts
amid growing skepticism about another dynastic power succession in the North due
a lack of time to groom an heir.
Kim Jong-il spent two decades as an heir apparent before taking over in 1994,
when his father, Kim Il-sung, died of a heart attack.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last month touched on the sensitive issue
of North Korea's leadership change while on a weeklong Asian tour, attributing
North Korea's planned rocket launch and other provocative acts to a potential
power transition.
"There is an increasing amount of pressure because, if there is succession, even
if it is a peaceful succession, that creates even more uncertainty and it also
may encourage behaviors that are even more provocative as a way to consolidate
power within the society," she said.
South Korean and U.S. officials have said that the 67-year-old Kim Jong-il might
have undergone brain surgery for a stroke last fall amid reports that North
Korea's hardline military was taking advantage of the power vacuum to derail the
six-party talks, the latest session of which was deadlocked in December over how
to verify North Korea's nuclear facilities.
"You add to the already difficult challenge of working with the North Koreans the
uncertainties that come from questions about potential succession, this is a
difficult undertaking," Clinton said. "Our goal is to try to come up with a
strategy that is effective in influencing the behavior of the North Koreans at a
time when the whole leadership situation is somewhat unclear."
hdh@yna.co.kr
(END)
