By Kim Sue-young
Staff Reporter
The reclusive state of North Korea is being governed by the brother-in-law of the nation's leader Kim Jong-il, who allegedly suffered a stroke, a British daily newspaper reported Saturday.
The Times said Chang Sung-taek, who leads the communist state's secret police, is making key decisions on behalf of North Korea's ``Dear Leader.''
``Chang is now in control and leading North Korea,'' Choi Jin-wook, director for the Division of North Korean Studies at the Institute for National Unification in Seoul, was quoted as saying. ``Other important figures consulted him, even before Kim's stroke. He will keep Kim's policy line even if the North Korean leader dies.''
Chang, born in Gangwon Province in 1946, married Kim Kyong-hui, the younger sister of Kim, and served as vice director of the ruling Workers' Party.
After an abrupt purge in 2004, he was promoted to the post of first vice director of the party with oversight responsibility for the police, judiciary and other areas of internal security, according to North Korea's state media, the Korean Central News Agency, last year.
``He is very smart, dynamic, with maybe some charisma - that's the image I have of him,'' Choi said. ``He has fewer enemies than other senior cadre because when he purges people, they are not just sent away from Pyongyang, they are killed.''
Former North Korean secretary Hwang Jang-yop, who defected to South Korea, spoke of him as a potential successor to the reclusive leader.
There has been speculation over who will govern the nuclear-armed dictatorship ever since Kim suddenly disappeared from the public eye three months ago.
He has not appointed the next leader and his three sons ― Jong-nam, 37, Jong-chul, 27, and Jong-un, 24 ― are considered too young to take over the country.
Thus, local North Korea experts listed Kim Yong-nam as nominal No. 2 leader and ceremonial head of state, and Chang as viable candidates.
Cheong Seong-chang, director of the Sejong Institute in Seoul, also did not rule out the possibility that military authorities, regarded as the most influential group, could lead the country.
Assuming a power shift in Pyongyang is unavoidable, the director suggested Seoul set aside North Korea policies, which are now part of foreign policy.
The North has denied rumors of Kim's bad health condition, releasing photos which were suspected of being fakes.
According to South Korean sources, Kim is now conscious and probably capable of walking, but weak.