*** TOPIC OF THE WEEK (PART 1)

N. Korea Starts Power Succession, Giving Leader's Son Political Posts

SEOUL (Yonhap) -- As widely anticipated, North Korea officially started a hereditary power succession this week when its leader Kim Jong-il named his youngest son a military general and its ruling party gave him key political posts during the biggest party convention in decades.

   In the party conference held on Sept. 28, North Korea appointed its leader's youngest son, Kim Jong-un, as vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), the (North) Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said in reports monitored in Seoul.

   The North Korean leader named his third son, believed to be 28 years old, as a four-star general a day before the party conference, confirming speculation that the heir apparent has now started the process of succeeding his ailing father. It was the first time the son's name has been mentioned by Pyongyang's state media.

   Analysts said Kim Jong-un's rise marked Pyongyang's first step to officially put the prince in line to take over the family dynasty in what would be the second-ever hereditary transfer of power in communism. Kim Jong-il himself succeeded the throne from his father and late national founder Kim Il-sung after his death in 1994.

   The KCNA reports said Ri Yong-ho, chief of the general staff of the (North) Korean People's Army (KPA), has been elected as the other vice chairman of the commission that is headed by Kim Jong-il, the country's 68-year-old leader who has apparently accelerated his hereditary succession plan since he suffered a stroke in 2008.

   Little is known about Kim Jong-un, who was also named at the conference as a member of the party's central committee, which the North has repeatedly stressed this year must be "protected with life."

   "As a vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, Kim Jong-un will strengthen his grip on the military" that operates 1.2 million troops and forms the basis of the Kim dynasty's power, said Yang Moo-jin, an expert at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.

   But Kim Jong-un was not included among the newly elected standing members of the Political Bureau of the party, suggesting he had some work ahead of him to complete the succession plan.

   In a reshuffle apparently aimed at assisting the power transfer, Kim Kyong-hui, the 64-year-old sister of Kim Jong-il, also became a member of the WPK Central Committee, the KCNA said, adding that her power-holding husband, Jang Song-thaek, became a member of the Central Military Commission.

   Jang is already a vice chairman of the National Defense Commission, whose decisions have overridden most of those of any other organ in the country since Kim Jong-il seized power.

   Jang is also the Workers' Party's director of administration with responsibility for the police, judiciary and other areas of internal security - the second most powerful post in the ruling party. Jang did not receive a general's post because he already holds the powerful title of vice chairman of the National Defense Commission.

   Kim Jong-il made his sister, who oversees the North's light industries, a four-star general on Sept. 27 along with his third son, whose two older brothers have apparently fallen out of favor over the years.

   The North Korean leader's appointment of his sister to such a post backed speculation over those who will serve as the young Jong-un's guardians until he builds up enough experience and power.

   The promotion of Jong-un's aunt as general also demonstrates Kim Jong-il's wish to protect his son within the military and the party. The aunt and her husband, Jang Song-thaek, are known to be supportive of Jong-un as heir to the throne, and Kim seems to be relying more on family as his health wanes.

   Notable among the profiles released by the official KCNA was that of Ri Yong-ho, chief of the general staff of the North's Korean People's Army.

   Ri, who was promoted to the rank of vice marshal, rose as a standing member of the Political Bureau along with three others, including Jo Myong-rok, a vice marshal who visited the United States as a special envoy in 2000.

   Little is known about the man other than his service as commander of the capital defense forces before his promotion last year to his current post, which is equivalent to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in South Korea.

   Ri was born in the same year as the 68-year-old leader Kim Jong-il, according to the KCNA. The oldest among the four new members are Kim Yong-nam and Jo Myong-rok, both 82, thus making Ri one of the two youngest along with Kim Jong-il on the panel, according to the release.

   "The Conference marked a significant occasion that demonstrated the revolutionary faith and will of all the party members, servicepersons and people," the KCNA said, calling on them to continue to uphold the military-first policy chartered by Kim.

   The KCNA said on Sept. 28 that a "crucial" development is under way in Pyongyang during the political gathering, while the state broadcaster monitored in Seoul said that Kim Jong-il was reelected as general-secretary of the party, a symbolic gesture to show he maintains grip on power despite his weakening health.

   Kim was "nominated as general-secretary amid a storm of applause by all the delegates to the convention" that began earlier in the day, the North's state Korean Central Television Broadcasting Station said, without releasing further details of the party meeting.

   The recent wrap up of the party conference marks the WPK's first major gathering since the 1980 meeting when Kim Jong-il was officially named the next leader of the socialist state. During the sixth congress of the WPK in 1980, Kim was given senior posts at the Central Committee, the Politburo and the Central Military Commission. Jong-un's path to power differs from that of his father in that he is getting a military position at an early age.

   Kim Jong-un, who is said to be no more than 28 years old and was educated in Switzerland, resembles his father the most and has always been the favorite among three sons, according to Japanese chef Kenji Fujimoto who formerly served the Kims and later told the outside world about their habits.

   North Korea never officially mentioned the name nor unveiled a recent adult portrait of its purported next leader.

   But the KCNA reported on Sept. 29 that the North Korean leader and his heir apparent had a photo session with newly elected members of the central leadership body of the Workers' Party and the key participants in the WPK conference. The photo session took place at the Kumsusan Memorial Palace in Pyongyang, the KCNA said without disclosing the date and time of the event, let alone the photo.

   The issue of new leadership in North Korea is viewed to have significant influence over the socialist state's ongoing nuclear ambitions and threats toward regional powers including its rival South Korea.

   The announcement of the six new generals was also unique in that four are civilians with no prior military experience. The other two, aside from Kim Jong-un and Kim Kyong-hui, are Choe Ryong-hae, a former provincial party secretary from North Hwanghae Province, and Kim Kyong-ok, the first-vice director of the party's Organization and Guidance Department.

   This unprecedented appointment of civilians to top military posts, experts say, might reflect an urgency to redistribute power in state affairs within North Korea. But they might also be political in nature.

   It also reinforces North Korea's songun ideology, experts say, which gives top priority to the nation's military, the Korean People's Army. North Korea officially reconfirmed the songun ideology in April of last year by adding a separate article on it in an amendment to its constitution.

   In this year's WPK conference, the North also revised its rules which convinced that the revision proposal "will provide a sure guarantee for strengthening and developing the party into an eternal glorious party of Comrade Kim Il-sung and victoriously advancing the revolutionary cause of Juche, the cause of building a thriving socialist nation by more thoroughly ensuring the unitary leadership of Kim Jong-il over the whole party and society."

   In the revision of the party rule, which was the first in 30 years since the last party congress in 1980, the party eradicated the "construction of communist society" from the party's "ultimate objective."

   The WPK convention took place as tension on the Korean Peninsula remained tense in the wake of the sinking of a South Korean warship in March in the western inter-Korean maritime border.

   Slapped with additional U.S. sanctions earlier this month as punishment for allegedly torpedoing a South Korean warship in March, North Korea has also been showing a renewed willingness to join the stalled six-nation talks over its denuclearization. The North had walked away at the end of 2008 from the talks it had with the U.S., South Korea, Japan, China and Russia since 2003.

   The South Korean government was tight-lipped on the announcement, which could be seen as a reaffirmation of North Korea's "military-first" politics, needs more observation. An official at the Ministry of Unification said, "Final judgments on succession can only be made once the Workers' Party meeting is finished." The official said the government is watching the situation "very closely."

   U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said in a conference call on Sept. 28 that Washington was "watching developments carefully" and was working to interpret the announcement's significance. "We will be engaged with all of our partners in the Asia-Pacific region as we try to understand the meaning of what is going on there," Campbell said in New York while attending meetings on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.

   But Chinese President Hu Jintao lauded Kim Jong-il for being reelected as general secretary of the party and extended warm congratulations, according to China's Xinhua news agency.

  (END)