Kim Jong-il appears with 'heir' at parade

NORTH KOREA’S presumed leader in waiting, Kim Jong-un, continued his rapid political rise over the weekend when he accompanied his father Kim Jong-il to one of the biggest military parades in the state’s history.

The presence of the two in front of the world’s media at massive celebrations to mark the 65th anniversary of the ruling Workers’ Party confirms widespread speculation that Kim’s youngest son is being fast-tracked to power.

Last week Jong-un was catapulted from obscurity to senior military and political rank at an extraordinary Workers’ Party conference. He is now widely referred to as “General Kim” in state media, a reference to his newly minted four-star general status.

Over the weekend he also attended a mass gymnastics event with his ailing father in a Pyongyang stadium, where the pair received a standing ovation. His presence at the stadium event and yesterday’s parade are the latest in a flurry of activities designed to show him off to citizens as Kim’s hereditary heir.

The move to promote the younger Kim, who is believed to be 27 and without any political or military experience, is widely seen as his father’s riskiest gamble yet. Defectors and anonymous North Korean sources quoted in the South Korean press report widespread discontent over the succession inside the isolated Stalinist state. “North Koreans view him as a child,” said one defector quoted in the Choson Ilbo daily.

Celebrations to mark the 65th anniversary are a show of strength by the Pyongyang leadership. Yesterday’s entire parade in Kim Il Sung Square was broadcast live across the country on state television as the two Kims, flanked by armed forces minister Kim Young Chun, looked on.

By an extraordinary coincidence, meanwhile, Pyongyang’s highest-ranking defector, Hwang Jang Yop, died yesterday in his South Korean home on the 65th anniversary of the party he famously betrayed.

Hwang (87), credited as one of the key architects of the North’s Juche philosophy of self-reliance, defected in 1997. He became one of Pyongyang’s most hated enemies when he made several revelations, including the 1990s famine that he says may have killed more than two million.

In one of his last opinion columns, Hwang last week called Kim Jong-il “a thief” who is making fun of his people by “making them shout ‘Hurrah!’ and ignoring the world after conferring a boy with the title ‘general’.”

Although he was a target of assassination attempts, South Korean police say Hwang died of natural causes.

Jong-un’s political anointment also appears to have received the green light from none other than his eldest brother. Interviewed by Japanese television in the Chinese gambling resort of Macau, where he spends much of his time, Kim Jong Nam said he was “happy” for his sibling.