North Korea's 'Dear Leader' chooses third son as heir

NORTH KOREA’S mysterious leader Kim Jong-il has named his youngest son, a Swiss-educated skiing and basketball fan, as his successor, South Korean media reported yesterday.

The choice of Kim Jong-un to eventually succeed his father in what is effectively the world’s first real communist dynasty was announced to top ruling party members after North Korea’s May 25th nuclear test, South Korean newspapers reported, citing intelligence sources.

North Koreans are already learning songs about “Commander Kim”, just as they did about his father, the “Dear Leader”, and his grandfather Kim Il-sung, the “Supreme Leader”.

The news came amid reports that North Korea was preparing to launch three or four medium-range missiles from Anbyon on its east coast, along with an intercontinental ballistic missile, further unsettling nerves in the north Asian region.

Over the past few days the North has reportedly strengthened its defences and conducted amphibious assault exercises along its western shore near China that could be preparations for skirmishes at sea.

The UN Security Council is currently formulating a document to censure Pyongyang for its defiant test last week of an atomic device many times more powerful than the bombs which devastated Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

China, North Korea’s ally, is reportedly actively engaged in helping to formulate the document, even though on previous occasions it has used its veto on the council.

News that the 67-year-old Mr Kim, who reportedly suffered a stroke last August, has appointed a successor does not mean he intends to step down any time soon.

However, if he is in ailing health, the need to name a successor becomes more acute to avoid a power vacuum. Mr Kim has three sons but until now had not publicly named an heir to lead the country of 49 million.

Reports say that Mr Kim wanted to name a successor before the centenary of the birth of his father, North Korea founder Kim Il-sung, in 2012.

In order to successfully manage the handover of power, Mr Kim has to win the support of the military, and his ratcheting up of nuclear tensions and efforts to transform North Korea into a nuclear power are aimed at keeping the army onside.

His youngest son is said to have the support of of his uncle, Jang Song-thaek, a member of the National Defence Commission.

Kim Jong-un studied at the International School of Berne in Switzerland in the 1990s under the pseudonym Pak Chol, learning to speak English, German and French, according to reports in the Swiss media.

Mr Kim’s eldest son, Jong Nam (38) had long been considered the favourite to succeed his father, until he was caught trying to enter Japan on a fake passport in 2001, saying he wanted to visit Tokyo Disneyland.

Tomorrow sees the start of the trial in Pyongyang of two American journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, accused of entering the country illegally and engaging in “hostile acts”.