Do Je-hae edits news stories as part of the AI team.
Kim Jong-il‘s eldest son opens up
By Do Je-hae
By Do Je-hae
Kim Jong-nam has displayed behavior unbefitting the eldest son of one of the world’s most reclusive leaders Kim Jong-il, who died on Dec. 17, 2011.
Kim Jong-nam is the only member of North Korea’s “royal family” who speaks to the foreign media. He travels freely and spends much of his time in China or Macao, its special autonomous region. He considers himself a “capitalist.”
So when it was reported in January that a book containing his interviews and emails was published in Japan, the international press paid attention to see Kim’s own views on the future of North Korea.
“Hello, This Is Kim Jong-nam” is the Korean version of a book about Kim Jong-il’s estranged eldest son originally entitled “My Father, Kim Jong-il, and Me.” The book contains conversations between Kim Jong-nam and the author, Yoji Gomi, a Japanese journalist with the Tokyo Shimbun specializing in inter-Korean affairs.
It is expected to serve as a useful source of reference for anyone interested in North Korea. The interesting aspect of this new Korean version is that it contains the text of conversations between the two conducted in Korean. The author also shares some background stories of their meetings.
According to the book, Kim Jong-nam believes that the impoverished government is in danger of collapse and that his young half brother Kim Jong-un, hailed as the new leader, is merely a figurehead.
Gomi said that over a number of years, he exchanged 150 emails with Kim Jong-nam and spent a total of seven hours interviewing him.
An unlikely North Korean
The emails and conversations reveal just how different Kim Jong-nam is from the average North Korean.
First of all, he refers to his country as “North Korea,” a term North Koreans themselves do not use officially or privately as it is a term coined by South Korea. They call their country “the Republic,” short for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).
His overseas upbringing and views on economic reform in the communist state are unique for a North Korean.
“My father started to distance himself from me when I returned to North Korea as a completely capitalist young man. This must have been beyond his expectations,” Kim said in an email dated March 23.
Surprisingly, he also seems to have South Korean friends.
“I actually have South Korean acquaintances that I keep in touch with and socialize with. In Macau, there is a South Korean businessman that I get together with regularly for meals,” he said in an interview with Gomi in January 2011.
The book also contains Kim’s views on unification.
“I used to frequent a bulgogi restaurant in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Koreans from around the world got together there and we would sing and drink. Someday, I hope that we can be like this and remove the walls separating us,” Kim said.
“At the top of North Korea’s agenda is the normalization of ties with the United States. After that, we should like to devise measures for peace on the Korean Peninsula and re-build the economy.”
Countering Kim Jong-un’s rule
The book also shows Kim Jong-nam’s negative thoughts on the prospects of his half-brother’s ascension to power. He counters the state media campaign that have portrayed him as the unquestioned new leader after their father’s death.
“Jong-un will just be a figurehead,” the book quotes Jong-nam as saying. It also claims that he has called the collapse of North Korea’s economy likely unless the government initiates reforms, which could also bring it down.
“Without reforms and liberalization, the collapse of the economy is within sight,” he said. “But reforms and opening up could also invite dangers for the regime.”
Kim Jong-nam is widely believed to have been dropped from consideration as a successor after he embarrassed the government in 2001, when he was caught trying to enter Japan on a fake passport. He said he wanted to visit Tokyo Disneyland.
After his father passed away, party and military officials have moved quickly to install Kim Jong-un as “Supreme Leader” of the people, party and military. But his youth and quick ascension to power have raised questions in foreign capitals about how ready he is to inherit rule of the nation and its 24 million people.
Shortly after the funeral, Kim Jong-nam suggested in an interview with a Japanese television network that he opposed the hereditary transfer of power to his half-brother, who is believed to be in his late 20s.
He shared similar views with the author.
“As a matter of common sense, a transfer to the third generation is unacceptable,” Kim was quoted as saying in an email dated Nov. 3, 2010.
In an exclusive interview with Gomi last January, Kim was quoted as saying; “Even in China, Mao Zedong did not conduct a hereditary transfer of power. I think that was why China has been able to develop. In contrast, North Korea is likely to become weak under the third generation of hereditary leadership. As I have repeatedly pointed out, this kind of leadership is not conducive to the ideals of socialism.”