Death of Kim's consort: Dynastic
implications By David Scofield
North Korea is synonymous with death. The widely
circulated news of Kim Jong-il's consort's death is
important not in the circumstances of her demise, but in
the questions of dynastic succession it has brought to
the fore - who will inherit the mantle of despot in the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea? Kim Jong-il is
62.
Kim's appetite for exotic food and fine
alcohol is surpassed only by his appetite for female
flesh, an indulgence that led him to Koh Young-hee,
formerly a dancer in one of Kim's many "pleasure teams",
groups of stunningly attractive girls trained in
providing for his every desire. Divided into three broad
categories, the women provide "satisfaction",
"happiness", and "dancing and singing". Koh was a member
of the third group and became Kim's consort.
Born in Japan to wide-eyed idealists who left
for the North Korean "workers' paradise" in the early
1960s, Koh became one of a 2,000-strong stable of young
girls "fortunate" enough to be chosen to pleasure Kim.
It was while she was dancing in one of the Kim family's
32 villas and palaces that the then junior Kim became
enamored with Koh. Though they never formerly married
(Kim already had a wife and mistress), they became very
close and Kim fathered two sons with Koh: Kim Jong-chul,
23, and Kim Jong-woon, 21. Of course, by the time of her
death, reportedly of cancer, Koh was no longer "the
former dancer" but had been bestowed the titles
"esteemed mother" and "great woman".
And then
there's 'Fat Bear' Kim Jong-il's eldest son is
Kim Jong-nam, the offspring of previous mistress Sung
Hye-lim, a former actress who died two years ago in a
Moscow hospital, exiled and estranged from the leader.
Jong-nam has been widely considered to be Kim's
heir-apparent, though this is now far from certain.
Some, such as the leader's former Japanese sushi chef,
who has written about Kim under the pen name Kenji
Fujimoto, observed him referring to Jong-nam as "too
feminine", lacking the masculine character leadership
requires, and indicating a preference for the youngest.
But this raises other issues concerning Confucian roles
- the youngest son assuming control ahead of the eldest
would be a major, and potentially destabilizing,
departure from Confucian ethos.
In the past Kim
Jong-nam had been widely viewed as the obvious
successor. He had the right familial rank, and there is
little effeminate about Kim's portly son. North Korean
defectors believe Jong-nam responsible for the Hyesan
purge, a "removal" of 40 individuals involved in illegal
trade during the height of the famine 1996. But his love
of Disneyland proved to be his undoing.
In 2001,
Kim Jong-nam and his entourage, bedecked in
diamond-encrusted Rolex watches and toting Louis Vuitton
bags, were detained at Narita airport, reportedly en
route to Tokyo Disneyland. Kim had attempted to enter
the country on a forged Dominican Republic passport,
using the Chinese name Pang Xiong - Fat Bear. Subsequent
investigations revealed that this was not his first
foray into Japan. Apparently he entered the country at
least three times in late 2000. Indeed, a hostess at the
exclusive gentlemen's club Soapland in Tokyo's Yoshiwara
district remembered Kim's US$350-per-hour visits. She
also recalls a dragon tattoo on Kim's back - tattoos are
a taboo in Confucian society as they are seen to be a
desecration of the body. Still today in South Korea, men
with tattoos usually are thought to be members of
criminal gangs.
Kim Jong-il was livid. The
eldest son had embarrassed the leader and Jong-nam's
place near the top of the North Korean food chain and
dynasty was - and is - in doubt. Jong-nam's whereabouts
are not known. He was reported to be spending his days
gambling in Macau, but some experts believe the family
rift has been repaired, at least partially, and he is
now said to be back in North Korea, perhaps working on
national cyberprojects. Before his embarrassing
transgressions, he guided the Korea Computing Center
(KCC), a high-tech research center outside of Pyongyang
described as "advanced" by Jim Hoare, the former charge
d'affaires of the British Mission in North Korea and one
of the few foreigners to have visited the complex.
According to the KCC website, primary research areas
include the development of Linux technology. In a world
dominated by Bill Gates and Microsoft, North Korea is
opting for open-source - perhaps there's hope for the
reclusive nation yet.
And then there's the
first lady While the deceased Koh may be
"esteemed mother", she isn't "first lady". That title is
reserved for Kim's only surviving (that we know about
anyway) sibling, his sister Kim Kyung-hee. Kim had a
brother earlier in life, but the poor lad drowned in a
pond on one of the Kim estates while, it's rumored, Kim
Jong-il looked on. The leader is reported to be very
close with both his sister and her 33-year-old son (his
name is not known beyond North Korea), raising
speculation about his potential role as leader of the
moribund nation.
Many experts dismiss this
possibility, though, as it would end the Kim dynastic
line. Kim Jong-il's nephew's father is Chang Sung-taek,
vice director of the ruling Korean Workers Party's
organization and guidance department and, according to
senior North Korean defector Hwang Jong-yup, the de
facto No 2 man in North Korea. For years, Chang enjoyed
the position closest to Kim, thanks in no small measure
to his marriage to Kim's sister.
But defector
testimony and South Korea-based analysts indicate that
Chang and Kim Jong-il are not as close as they once
were. Chang has been accused of corruption and abuse of
power and is now said to be living under virtual house
arrest. It has also been reported that Chang and Kim
Kyung-hee have parted ways. If true, this could remove
Chang from any handover script. His brothers, themselves
senior members in the military, will likely be keeping
their heads down, fearful of being detained, or purged,
themselves.
Kim Kyung-hee's official title is
head of the light-industry division of the Workers Party
Economic Policy Audit Department. She is believed to
have unfettered access to her brother Kim Jong-il. That
she has a voice in future leadership decisions is well
known, but she possesses something else as well, the
keys to the family fortune. US Central Intelligence
Agency reports put the Kim family's wealth at around $4
billion, held, it is believed, in Swiss bank accounts.
Kim Kyung-hee is charged with managing the "Family's"
(writer's emphasis) business, which include gold, zinc
and anthracite mining operations and the manufacture,
processing and distribution of of opium, heroin and
amphetamines, as well as the proliferation of
counterfeit currency and other nefarious enterprises.
(North Korea's smuggling, according to recent British
Broadcasting Corp reports, have employed the Real IRA
among others to distribute near-perfect counterfeit
copies of US currency notes around Britain and Europe.)
His sister's power goes beyond the management of
this conduit for cash upon which Kim Jong-il relies to
fund his expensive indulgences: she has the knowledge
necessary to expose the intricate network that ensures
Kim's wealth and power. This information would be
invaluable to those governments concerned with the
dictator's nuclear-weapons program and his disregard for
human life - administrations that hope to bring about
real change in North Korea through the removal of this
system of dynastic despots.
With so much
senseless death and suffering in North Korea, it's hard
to be too concerned about the death of one like Koh.
Scores of ordinary North Koreans perished from treatable
ailments over the past year while the elite, such as
Koh, secured the best treatment abroad, regardless of
expense. The death of Kim Jong-il's favorite is
noteworthy because it underscores the fragility of the
succession and the potential for instability at the
zenith of power in North Korea.
David
Scofield, former lecturer at the Graduate Institute
of Peace Studies, Kyung Hee University, is currently
conducting post-graduate research at the School of East
Asian Studies, University of Sheffield, United Kingdom.
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