[Pak Daily Times] North Korean leader Kim Dear Leader Jong-Il
... hereditary dictator of North Korea. His definition of reunification isn't the same as the definition in Seoul...
was against a third-generation succession of power but named his youngest son as the next leader to ensure national stability, his eldest son told a Japanese newspaper.
In a rare interview published Friday, Kim Jong-Nam, who has lived abroad for years after apparently falling out of favour with his father, also called on his half-brother, the heir apparent Kim Jong-Un, to improve North Koreans' lives.
'Hereditary succession did not happen even under Chinese Chairman Mao Zedong,' the 39-year-old told the Tokyo Shimbun in a 90-minute interview conducted earlier this month in southern China. '(Hereditary succession) does not fit socialism and my father was against it,' he said in comments translated into Japanese.
'I understand that it was done in order to stabilise the framework of the nation,' he said. 'Instability of North Korea will lead to instability of the surrounding region.'
Kim Jong-Il, 68, is seen as setting up the transfer of power to his third son Jong-Un, who is believed to be 27 and who accompanied his father on about one-fifth of his excursions last year. |