With the Party Conference now under way, it seems increasingly evident that Kim Jong Il has appointed his youngest son, Kim Jong-Un, as successor as North Korean leader.
Commentators on the North Korean system have expected this for some time. Ever since Kim Jong was rumored to have been hospitalized, even incapacitated, following a stroke in 2008, attention has focused on which of Kim’s three sons (a son-in-law along with a high ranking military general, O Kuk-ryol, had also been mentioned as possible successors but would appear to have been ruled out) would succeed him as leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
With the Party Conference now under way, it seems increasingly evident that Kim Jong Il has appointed his youngest son, Kim Jong-Un, as successor as North Korean leader.
Commentators on the North Korean system have expected this for some time. Ever since Kim Jong was rumored to have been hospitalized, even incapacitated, following a stroke in 2008, attention has focused on which of Kim’s three sons (a son-in-law along with a high ranking military general, O Kuk-ryol, had also been mentioned as possible successors but would appear to have been ruled out) would succeed him as leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
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