Is Jang Song-thaek Caretaker for NKs Leadership Change?
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
Jang Song-thaek, Kim Jong-il's brother-in-law, has appeared with the North Korean leader on numerous occasions this year during inspections and on-site visits, an indication of his pivotal role in the Stalinist state as a middle man in the power transfer after Kim suffered a serious stroke.
According to Yonhap News Agency, Jang, who was elevated to one of the eight members of the North's powerful National Defense Committee, accompanied the ailing North Korean leader 42 times out of a total 70 appearances in the first half of the year, the second highest following a secretary of the workers' party.
North Korea watchers speculated that Jang's frequent appearance with Kim has something to do with the 67-year old leader's dramatically declining health and to prepare for a possible sudden change of the leadership in the isolated state.
Kim's worsening health was visually obvious, seen from his appearance on state television last Wednesday to mark the 15th anniversary of the death of his father Kim Il-sung.
His hair looked thin, and he was gaunt looking.
Citing a U.S. government official, The Washington Times reported that the North Korean leader was estimated to have a year to live.
The official was quoted as saying that ``Kim has essentially lost the ability to decide policy now and that is being carried out by a collective leadership made up of the Politburo, the party and the military.''
The North Korean leader reportedly appointed his 26-year old third son Jong-un as a next leader of the reclusive state.
North Korea experts here said Jang, who taught Jong-un when he took home-schooling before attending the International School of Berne in Switzerland, would play a pivotal role in paving the way for the less experienced younger Kim's succession to power.
Cheong Seong-chang, a senior fellow at the Sejong Institute, said Jang, who was close to Kim's third wife Ko Young-hee who died of breast cancer in 2004 in France, went through highs and lows in power struggle due to a remark made by Hwang Jang-yop in 2003.
Hwang, the highest-ranking defector to South Korea from the North, said in a seminar held in the National Assembly in July 2003 that Jang would probably become a leader of the communist state if a sudden change takes place.
Cheong said Hwang's analysis alerted Ko who was then the second person in North Korea because she probably felt threatened that ambitious Jang might endanger her or her son's heirship in the post Kim Jong-il era.
In July 2003, Jang disappeared from the public eye and he was suspended from duty until 2005.
Jang began accompanying Kim again from 2006, after Ko passed away.
North Korea watcher Cheong said Jang is now one of core supporters of Jong-un, dismissing some experts' speculation of power struggle in the North after any sudden change.