SUCCESSION IS in the air in North Korea as the secretive communist state put on a massive celebration rehearsal last weekend for its biggest political conference in 40 years. Speculation is rife that ailing leader Kim Jong-il will use the Workers Party convention to give a key ruling party position to his third and youngest son.
Kim Jong-il (68) went to China last month to meet senior officials, including President Hu Jintao, on a visit that many read as an opportunity to introduce his son to North Korea’s only significant ally.
The Swiss-educated Kim Jong- un was born in 1983 or 1984 to Kim Jong-il’s late wife, a Japanese-born professional dancer, Ko Yong-hui.
As with so many other events in this last bastion of Stalinism, nothing has been announced and working out what is going on is a process of gathering information from various sources and trying to put together a picture.
It remains unclear when the meeting will take place, although it is expected “early this month”, according to South Korean sources. The last such meeting took place in 1966 and there have only been three such meetings in 52 years.
The streets of Pyongyang are lined with posters promoting the event, while South Korean officials said that soldiers, artillery and tanks were gathering near the capital in preparation for a giant military parade. North Korea’s Rodong Sinmun newspaper said party delegates were gathering from all corners of the country.
A weekend rehearsal featured thousands of residents waving red and pink plastic flowers at Pyongyang’s main Kim Il Sung Square, according to a report on China’s Xinhua News Agency. Giant posters bore enthusiastic slogans such as: “Let’s make this a festive event that will shine in the history of our country and people.”
The meeting could see a policy shift toward greater openness and reform, particularly as the North Korean government runs out of options to prop up its economy, which has been devastated by sanctions prompted by its nuclear programme.
Despite the optimism on the posters, the congress is taking place against a background of considerable tension, both with ally China and with the international community. North Korea’s economy is in a constant state of near-collapse.
Aid from China, which sees itself as “close as lips and teeth” with its ideological little brother, is said to be keeping it going.
The North’s direct approach to nuclear testing, often without consulting China, has angered its only significant friend, and China has even co-operated with the United Nations in sanctions against the North, an unheard-of development just a few years ago.
China is keen to restart six-nation talks involving both Koreas, Japan, the US, China and Russia on ending the North’s nuclear programme. North Korea walked away from the talks last year in protest at international condemnation of a long-range rocket launch.