“FOOLISH POLITICIANS” of the world should not expect the death of Kim Jong-il to bring change to North Korea, the country’s powerful defence chiefs warned yesterday, as they threatened a “sea of fire” and a “roar of revenge” against South Korean president Lee Myung-bak’s administration.
Employing rhetoric familiar from the last two generations of ruling Kims, a message from the isolated country’s powerful National Defence Commission said North Korea would rally around Kim Jong-il’s successor, Kim Jong-un, and referred to him as the “Great Leader”, a title previously used for his father.
The reference to the son as Great Leader shows the personality cult surrounding the Kim dynasty is being passed down the line. Kim Jong-un has even made it on to a new postage stamp, alongside his father against the backdrop of the sacred Mount Paektu.
“We declare solemnly and confidently that the foolish politicians around the world, including the puppet group in South Korea, should not expect any change from us,” the National Defence Commission said in a statement read out on state television.
Mr Lee provoked North Korean anger by raising security alerts after the death of Kim Jong-il on December 17th and by refusing to send an official mission to pay condolences.
“The veritable sea of tears shed by the army and people of the DPRK will turn into that of retaliatory fire to burn all the group of traitors to the last one . . . We will never deal with the traitor group of Lee Myung-bak,” the newsreader said, referring to South Korea’s president, who halted a no-strings-attached aid policy toward the North in 2008.
This week saw a huge, at times bizarre, outpouring of grief and shedding of tears for Kim Jong-il at a state funeral in the snow in Pyongyang, while on Thursday, the younger Kim was appointed “Supreme Leader” of the ruling party, military and people at a massive public gathering on the final day of official mourning.
Kim Jong-un looks to be the new leader of the government, but as he is only in his late 20s and very inexperienced, it is believed that he is backed up by more experienced figures, such as his uncle, while the military leadership will retain a major say in any decisions made.