The rise of Kim Il-sung's mini-me
By Andrei Lankov
SEOUL - In October last year, media worldwide reported that Kim Jong-eun, Kim
Jong-il's third son, had been made a four-star general and promoted to the
position of vice chairman of the Korean Workers' Party's Central Military
Commission.
It was taken as evidence that at long last, the Dear Leader had decided on his
successor. At the time, it was often overlooked that Kim Jong-eun had not yet
been officially described as "successor". Officially, he is merely a top
dignitary, even though few would cast doubt on the actual meaning of the
promotion of a 28-year-old to a top circle of decisions makers whose average
age is well above 70.
Over the following year though, the media - at least, the English-language
media - have not paid much attention to the succession process underway in the
North. This lack of attention is easy to
explain. The media usually report unusual developments while the North Korean
dynastic succession has so far progressed without many surprises.
It seems that North Korea's decision makers do not want to be too creative. So
far, they have generally followed the script which was developed 40 years ago,
in the 1970s, when Kim Jong-il was promoted to succeed his father, Kim Il-sung.
From late 2010, Kim Jong-eun began to appear in the pages of the North Korean
press and in news broadcasts on North Korean television. He is shown mimicking
the public activities of his father (and earlier activities of his
grandfather). Kim Jong-eun goes to factories where he explains to the managers
how they should run their enterprises and extols workers to labor with even
greater enthusiasm.
He is shown touring newly built apartments and inspecting military units,
providing artists with moral guidance and mixing with exemplary soldiers.
At least in one case, such a visit was commemorated in stone. In 2009, Kim
Jong-eun, then still unknown to most, accompanied his father on a visit to
Wonsan Agricultural College. Soon afterwards, a commemorative stone feature was
erected to celebrate this great historical event.
One should not be too surprised about this, the present author, when walking
through Pyongyang, once came across a wooden bench that was fenced off and had
a large commemorative stone placed next to it. The bench's claim to fame was
that in the 1950s, Kim Il-sung, founder of the dynasty, had once placed his
buttocks on its wooden planks. Until this year though, such commemorative
stones could only mark the activities of the two elder Kims. Now it seems that
the successor has joined the top league.
Kim Jong-eun has been introduced to foreign embassies in Pyongyang and now
frequently meets with visiting foreign officials and delegations. Recently,
during a meeting with a Chinese dignitary, he was pictured sitting on the right
hand side of the guest while his father, Marshal Kim Jong-il, sat on the left.
Jong-eun's attire is worth noting. He wears a navy blue Mao Zedong suit. This
dress is rather anachronistic, but it clearly has been chosen for its
symbolism: his grandfather wore exactly the same daily uniform in the 1950s and
1960s. Kim Jong-eun resembles his grandfather indeed, and the likeness is
further emphasized by his choice of haircut. This exercise in political
image-making delivers a clear message: Kim Jong-eun is the next incarnation of
his grandfather, the legitimate heir to the Kim dynasty.
Kim Jong-eun's connection with his still-ruling father is also emphasized in
clothing selection. In winter, he appears clad in a grey parka that is an exact
copy of Kim Jong-il's winter dress. In other words, the successor is made to
look like a young clone of his two predecessors.
One should probably not overstate the significance of these facts too much, but
nonetheless, this does not encourage the idea that Kim Jong-eun will break with
the current line and become a radical reformer.
Every ruler of the Kim family has had his own, clearly defined, set of titles.
Nowadays Kim Il-sung is usually referred to as the "Leader" (suryong in
Korean) and Kim Jong-il is usually referred to as the "General" (changun).
Kim Jong-eun, unremarkably, has also acquired a title: he supposed to be
referred to as the "Four-star General" (taejang) - in Korean, this is a
technical term for a military rank, different from the generic "General", which
is Kim Jong-il's title.
Recently, North Koreans saw the emergence of a new type of personality
cult-related object: three plaques or stones, identical in size and shape, each
containing a short three character inscription. Such triple plaques or stones
are increasingly common in public places in North Korea.
One plaque says "The blessing [of having] the leader", the next says "The
blessing [of having] the general", while the last one says "The blessing [of
having] the four-star general." As we remember, "Leader" means Kim Il-sung,
"General" stands for Kim Jong-il, and the "four-star General" is Jong-eun's new
sobriquet.
This is a way to remind North Koreans how incredibly lucky they are to be
blessed by destiny, which has provided them with three geniuses of leadership,
the three best leaders the world has ever seen.
As one should expect, the arts have been put to good political use as well. For
the past few years, North Koreans have been encouraged to sing a song entitled Footsteps.
It extols the manifold virtues of Jong-eun and especially his desire to be
among the common people and take care of their needs.
Ko Yong-hui, Jong-eun's late mother, has also begun to get her fair share of
attention. Back in the 1970s, Kim Jong-il's rise to power gave birth to
personality cult for his mother, Kim Jong-suk. Jong-eun's mother was a
beautiful folk dancer who died in 2004. Nowadays she is supposed to be referred
to as "Pyongyang's mother". Predictably, there is at least one song dedicated
to her virtues and glory.
The city of Wonsan seemingly has started somewhat special standing in North
Korea. Jong-eun's mother was actually born in Japan, but she moved to North
Korea with a large number of pro-Pyongyang ethnic Koreans. The major port of
arrival for these people was Wonsan and it has been stated that Jong-eun
described this city as "his second home town".
According to some rumors, he was actually born in one of the Kim Jong-il's
residences in Wonsan or close by, but it is not currently clear whether these
rumors should be taken seriously. Nonetheless, Wonsan is clearly a rising star
of North Korea's political geography.
What does this all mean? So far it seems that North Korea's agitprop department
is following the pattern that was developed in the 1970s. Then, they spent a
few years on promoting the personality cult of the newly appointed successor
whose virtues and devotion to the people were continuously extolled.
A significant part of this propaganda appeared in confidential publications
that were not supposed to be seen by outsiders and often not even by common
North Koreans as well. This allowed them to claim that the North Korean public
suddenly experienced a burst of spontaneous love for young Kim Jong-il. His
official confirmation as his father's successor was presented as merely the
corollary of this universal love and admiration.
In the case of Kim Jong-il, these preparations took eight years. Kim Jong-il
was selected as successor and promoted to top positions in the government in
1972, but his standing as heir-designate remained unofficial until 1980. In
1980, the sixth congress of the Korean Workers' Party officially declared Kim
Jong-il to be the official successor of Kim Il-sung.
Recent events, especially the speedy emergence of Jong-eun's personality cult,
leaves little doubt that the decision pertaining to his future has been made
and is unlikely to be changed. However, he is yet to be declared a successor,
officially and unequivocally. Technically speaking, he is merely one of a dozen
top military commanders, albeit very young and enjoying unparalleled admiration
among the common people.
If the experiences of the 1970s are a guide as to what is likely to happen, we
should expect that in due time Jong-eun's standing will be made official.
Judging by the hype North Korean propaganda makes about 2012 (meant to be a
year of great events and achievements), one cannot rule out that the final
promotion will happen as soon as next year - perhaps, but not necessarily, at a
party congress which will be convened for this purposes.
There is one noticeable difference between Kim Jong-il's promotion in the 1970s
and Kim Jong-eun's promotion of late. In the case of Jong-eun, North Korean
agitprop has moved much faster, so it may be possible that the entire
preparatory phase be compressed into two or three years.
They have a good reason to be in a hurry. Kim Il-sung was 60 when he made a
decision about his son, Kim Jong-il made the same decision at the age of 68,
whilst being in far worse physical shape. So nobody knows how much time North
Korea has to complete the tricky dynastic succession.
At any rate, things appear to be moving smoothly right now. The succession
process has yet to run into any noticeable obstacles. So the chances are that
the world's youngest four-star general will succeed Marshal Kim Jong-il,
becoming the third Kim to rule the world's only communist absolute monarchy.
Andrei Lankov is an associate professor at Kookmin University in Seoul,
and adjunct research fellow at the Research School of Pacific and Asian
Studies, Australian National University. He graduated from Leningrad State
University with a PhD in Far Eastern history and China, with emphasis on Korea.
He has published books and articles on Korea and North Asia.
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