SEOUL: North Korea’s ailing leader Kim Jong-Il — believed to be gearing up for another barrage of missile tests — has named his youngest son as the eventual heir to the family dynasty, reports said on Tuesday.
The hardline communist state has defied global condemnation of its second nuclear test last week by firing a series of short-range missiles, and analysts believe Kim may be trying to bolster his authority ahead of a succession.
The North is reported to be preparing to test-fire a long-range missile capable in theory of reaching Alaska from a new northwest base, as well as several medium-range missiles from along its southeast coast.
There has been intense speculation about who would succeed North Korea’s “Dear Leader” since he was reported to have suffered a stroke last August. Kim, now 67, is thought to have since recovered and resumed most of his duties.
A South Korean lawmaker briefed by intelligence officials said Tuesday that Seoul’s intelligence services have received word that Kim has nominated his third son, 26-year-old Jong-Un, to succeed him.
Little is known about Jong-Un, but the basketball fan, who was educated at an international school in Switzerland, has been described as a “chip off the old block” by his father’s former Japanese sushi chef.
“Jong-Un is known to have the potential to become a strong, ruthless leader. He has a take-charge personality,” Cheong Seong-Chang, a North Korea expert at the South’s Sejong Institute, told AFP.
According to reports, North Koreans are being taught new songs aimed at instilling loyalty to the next leader, addressing Jong-Un as “General Kim.”
Jong-Un was born to the leader’s third wife, Ko Yong-Hi, who reportedly died of breast cancer in 2004.
Kim’s eldest son — Jong-Nam, 37, who was born to a different mother — apparently spoiled his prospects of becoming leader after being deported from Japan in 2001 for trying to enter the country on a forged passport.
Reports of Jong-Un’s nomination come with South Korean and US forces on heightened alert after the North threatened an attack when Seoul joined a US-led initiative to stop the spread of weapons of mass destruction.
The North angered its neighbours in April by firing a long-range rocket over Japan. It said the launch was to put a satellite in orbit but other nations saw it as a disguised missile test.
South Korea’s navy stepped up its defences near the tense sea border with North Korea Tuesday, sending in a high-speed patrol boat armed with guided missiles and vowing to “punish” any attacking forces.
The North is reported to have stepped up naval drills near the western maritime border — the site of deadly skirmishes between the two Koreas in 1999 and 2002 — after threatening to attack the South.
Pyongyang has warned of “self-defence measures” in response to any tougher international sanctions for last week’s nuclear test.
Diplomats at the United Nations Security Council are discussing a new resolution that could impose fresh sanctions on the North to punish it for its May 25 nuclear test — its second since 2006.
But China’s Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi on Tuesday called for a “balanced approach” toward North Korea in talks with his Japanese counterpart, Japan’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
Yang was quoted as saying that a UN resolution and sanctions alone would not solve the problem.
China, a veto-wielding member of the Security Council, is thought to be wary of a possible influx of refugees if the North Korean regime collapses.
South Korean and Southeast Asian leaders Tuesday condemned the North’s nuclear test and missile launches as they wrapped up a summit on the southern resort island of Jeju.
President Lee Myung-Bak and the 10 ASEAN leaders in a statement said the actions were “clear violations” of UN Security Council resolutions and a multi-nation nuclear disarmament pact.
