By Kim Young-jin
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has promoted 45 senior military officers to mark the birth date of his late father, state media said Wednesday, including figures expected to buttress the power transition underway in the Stalinist country.
Kim issued an order Tuesday to elevate five officers to lieutenant-general, 38 to major-general and two to full general the official Korean Central Television said in a report. The move coincided with the 99th anniversary of the birth of country founder Kim Il-sung, which falls on Friday.
Kim Jong-il, who rules with an iron-fisted military-first policy, expressed a “firm belief” that the promoted would demonstrate loyalty to the ruling Workers’ Party.
The promotions came as the regime stacks its ranks with figures expected to bolster the hereditary succession underway from Kim Jong-il to his youngest son, Kim Jong-un.
Increasingly, these figures include the younger generation of the elite known to be close to the Kim family, analysts say.
Among those elevated to general was O Il-jong, the son of O Jin-u, a former People’s Armed Forces minister and a revolutionary who fought against Japan’s imperial reign of the peninsula.
Also working his way up the ranks is three-star general O Kum-chol — the son of O Baek-yong, a former head of state security — who was recently tapped as a member of the ruling party’s Central Committee. Watchers expect him to take a higher post soon.
Kim Jong-un, thought to be no older than 29, was formalized as successor in September last year, when he was elevated to four-star general status and a high party post. Many expect the succession process to be completed by 2012, the year the North has promised to emerge as a powerful country.
Intelligence sources have said that the junior Kim could visit China soon after the celebration, which would be a clear sign that Beijing has accepted the succession. China is the North’s last main ally.
Meanwhile, the regime is expected to use this year’s celebration to begin heralding 2011’s bash, expected to be a massive affair to mark the 100th anniversary of founder Kim’s birth.
The North’s official media reported Monday that guests from Russia, Pakistan and other countries had begun arriving and that a spring art festival had opened in Pyongyang for the occasion.
Some 200 performers from former Eastern Bloc states have reportedly flown in for the festival. Of them, 100 are from Russia, including ballerinas, pop musicians, circus performers and classical instrumentalists.