Lee Hyo-sik is Finance Desk editor at The Korea Times. He manages finance-related stories on macroeconomics, banks, stocks, bonds, crypto etc. He is passionate about covering what's happening in Korea's financial industry and explaining it to both Korean and non-Korean readers. You can reach him at leehs@koreatimes.co.kr. Your insights and feedbacks are always appreciated.
Has junior Kim become NK’s second-in-command?
By Lee Hyo-sik
Kim Jong-un, North Korean leader Kim Jong-il’s heir apparent, has seemingly been elevated to the second highest position in the communist state, only 40 days after he was promoted to the rank of general in late September. Previously, he was regarded as ranked sixth.
When announcing the members of the funeral preparation committee for the late Jo Myong-rok, a vice chairman of the country’s powerful National Defense Commission, Sunday, the North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency mentioned the name of Kim Jong-il’s third son second in sequence.
It was the first time for the North’s media outlets to announce Jung-un’s name right after his father’s, a clear-cut signal that he will soon take over power from his 68-year-old ailing father.
On Sept. 29, the junior Kim was named sixth after his father and four other senior officials when the news agency announced the list of dignitaries participating in the general meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party. Given the fact the naming sequence is considered to indicate power ranks, the heir apparent had previously stood at sixth.
But the junior Kim’s name trailed only his father’s in the news agency’s Sunday announcement that Jong-un will be part of a committee preparing a state funeral for Jo, who died Saturday of ``heart disease.’’
In this climate, political observers think that the junior Kim has already become second-in-command in the Stalinist state.
In September, Pyongyang announced the appointment of the junior Kim as vice chairman of the ruling party’s Central Military Commission (CMC) and a member of the Central Committee at the party meeting. The reclusive Northern leader also made his son a four-star general.
Several days later, his photo appeared for the first time on the front page of the Rodong Sinmun and was released by the state news agency.
The image showed that Jong-un resembles his late grandfather and founder of North Korea, Kim Il-sung, in appearance.
Jong-un is reportedly proficient in English and German in addition to his native Korean. He lived in Bern, Switzerland, for much of his teenage years attending an international school and then later a public school. His late mother, Ko Yong-hui, was a Japanese-born dancer and Kim Jong-il’s third wife.