By Kim Young-jin
North Korea has begun distributing official portraits of leader Kim Jong-il’s youngest son and heir, Kim Jong-un, the latest sign that the communist regime is accelerating a father-to-son transfer of power, Radio Free Asia reported Friday.
Authorities began distributing the portraits of the younger Kim, thought to be 27, on Nov. 6, the report said, citing multiple sources in the North. Households will begin receiving them later this month, it said.
Similar portraits of Kim Jong-il and his father, country founder Kim Il-sung, hang in every public building in North Korea.
Three photographs of the leader-in-waiting are being circulated, the report said, two of which are portraits of him in uniform. The third shows him looking over documents with his father.
The report came amid speculation that the regime is quickening the pace of the power transfer in the impoverished, isolated state.
On Thursday, the Ministry of Defense said in a report to lawmakers that the power succession is “accelerating,” citing the increasing number of field inspections the heir apparent is making with his father.
Jong-un was a virtual unknown to the outside world as well as many North Koreans before he was elevated to key party posts and made a four-star general during a rare meeting of the Workers’ Party in September.
At the time, he was thought to be the fifth or sixth most powerful man in the country, citing the order in which he was listed on an official party roster.
But it is now thought that the junior Kim is now the clear number two after his name was mentioned directly after his father’s on a list of officials who organized a funeral for a recently deceased prominent military figure.
Still, many North Korea watchers believe that the elder Kim still maintains a tight grip on power, citing the frequency of his public activities. According to the ministry report, he has made 156 public outings so far this year, compared to 170 last year.
The rare gathering in September stacked the party ranks with figures close to the Kim family, in what was speculated as a bid to protect Jong-un from power struggles when his father eventually dies.
Little is known about the junior Kim, who was educated in Switzerland and reportedly speaks English and German well in addition to his native Korean.