Dennis Halpin at NK News has a long article about how the Chinese could turn to Kim Jong-un’s half brother, Kim Jong-nam to lead North Korea if they tire of Jong-un’s antics. It is a good read about Kim Jong-nam if you don’t know much about him, but it seems installing him with a palace coup would be tough to do in North Korea:
Kim Jong Nam, despite a globetrotting playboy image which has seen him periodically surface in Southeast Asian watering holes in Indonesia and Malaysia, has voiced criticisms of his younger brother similar to those espoused by his own student son. Kim Jong Nam reportedly emailed a Japanese journalist in 2012 a prediction that “the Kim Jong Un regime will not last long.” He has also voiced support for economic restructuring, stating that “without reforms, North Korea will collapse,” which would be music to the ears of the leadership in Beijing. Kim Jong Nam’s close familial ties to his purged uncle, Jang Song Thaek, who was widely seen as Beijing’s point man in Pyongyang, would also likely earn him kudos among the Chinese leadership facing a quandary of what to do about North Korea. The question is how to preserve a reliable buffer state against American influence in South Korea while curbing Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs which increasingly threaten regional stability. Kim Jong Nam, despite his bad boy image, would likely prove far more pliant than his disagreeable and defiant little brother. [NK News]
You can read the rest at the link, but I look at Kim Jong-nam more likely taking power if a regime collapse scenario was to happen and the Chinese intervened and needed to get a new leader quickly in place. Kim Jong-nam could then open up the country following the Chinese model becuase Kim Jong-nam does not have any human rights violation, crimes against humanity, or any other excess baggage hanging over his head if he decides to open up the country and the reality of the North Korean gulags becomes public. He can blame it all on the old regime and vow that he is working on fixing the problems the old regime created. This may be enough to get world leaders to except him and work to drop sanctions and offer financial assistance in exchange for ending their nuclear program.
Those are just some quick thoughts I have, does anyone else see any other scenario that Kim Jong-nam could take power?
This image, captured on Feb. 7, 2016 from the North’s Korean Central TV Broadcasting Station, shows a document signed the previous day by the country’s leader Kim Jong-un authorizing the launch of the “Kwangmyongsong-4” satellite. North Korea said in a special broadcast it has succeeded in placing the satellite into orbit. The rocket launch is widely viewed as a disguised ballistic missile test. (Yonhap)
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (C) is featured being heartily greeted by women workers of the Kim Jong Suk Pyongyang Textile Mill that he visited in this photo carried by the country’s official media, the Korean Central News Agency, on Jan. 28, 2016. The news report said Kim expressed deep satisfaction “picturing to himself students going to and from school with cheerful laughter, carrying with them locally produced fashionable bags” manufactured at the facility. (Yonhap)
If anyone knows about high quality food products it is Kim Jong-un:
Kim Jong Un provided field guidance at a food production plant on Saturday, Pyongyang time, marking his first public factory visit of 2016.
Pyongyang’s state-controlled media outlet KCNA reported Kim called on factory workers at Gold Cup Athletes Comprehensive Food Factory to produce more gustatory and nutritious food products for the state’s athletes.
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South Korean outlet Newsis reported it’s likely the plant was recently renovated and Kim was marking the new opening with an official visit.
Kim expressed satisfaction with the factory and said it had improved over the past year.
“Great improvements to the lives of the people will come, if everyone, like the factory’s cadres and employees here who make [North Korea] products that are the envy of the world, work with ambition and determination for the good of the [North Korean people],” Kim reportedly said.
The North Korean leader added cadres from other factories should learn from the plant’s example.
Pyongyang has previously stated the country’s top priority is to transform itself into an “economic powerhouse.” [UPI]
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un makes a congratulatory visit to the Ministry of People’s Armed Forces for the new year, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reports on Jan. 10, 2016. Kim said the hydrogen bomb test carried out last week was an act of self-defense, according to the report. (KCNA-Yonhap)
These photos carried by North Korea’s ruling party newspaper Rodong Sinmun on Dec. 29, 2015, show the country’s leader Kim Jong-un at a commendations ceremony for fishermen. According to the report, Kim lauded the exemplary fishermen and fisheries officials for their remarkable successes. (Yonhap)
Via a reader tip comes the below news that a close aid of Kim Jong-un has died in a car accident. Considering Kim Jong-il’s recent track record it makes me wonder if this was really an accident or not? However, the North Korean state media “closest comrade-in-arms and steadfast revolutionary comrade” and he was given a state funeral. If Kim Jong-un wanted Kim Yang-gon dead maybe he is now doing it in a way that doesn’t bring negative international media attention? Either that or it really was just a car accident:
A senior North Korean ruling party official and a top aide to leader Kim Jong Un has died in a car accident, the state news agency reported on Wednesday, in the latest event to hit the close circle of deputies of the country’s leader.
Kim Yang Gon, who was a secretary of the Workers’ Party and the head of its United Front Department, the unit that handles the North’s ties with South Korea, was Kim Jong Un’s “closest comrade, a solid revolutionary partner,” KCNA said.
Kim as the top official managing ties with the South was part of a high-level delegation that held talks in August after the rival states exchanged artillery fire, raising tensions to one of its highest points in recent years.
Those talks produced an agreement that ended the standoff and for the two sides to work to hold more discussions to improve ties.
KCNA said Kim died on Tuesday in an automobile accident at the age of 73. It gave no details of the accident. [Reuters]
