Spy Agency Confirms NK Leader's 3rd Son as Successor



South Korea's National Intelligence Service has confirmed that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il designated his third and youngest son, Jong-un, as his successor shortly after the country's second nuclear test, Yonhap News Agency reported Tuesday, quoting lawmakers.

The confirmation, given to members of the National Assembly information and intelligence committee Monday, is the first word from the Seoul government regarding North Korea's next leader following months of media speculation. Predictions that the elder Kim, 67, would soon designate his heir have circulated since he reportedly suffered a stroke last summer.

"I was notified by the government yesterday that there are such ongoings (of succession), and that they (North Koreans) make loyalty pledges to Kim Jong-un," Park Jie-won of the main opposition Democratic Party, a member of the intelligence committee and close aide to former President Kim Dae-jung, said in a radio interview.

Sources told Yonhap News Agency Monday that immediately after the May 25 test, Kim notified the country's key institutions ― the Korean People's Army, the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly and the Cabinet ― as well as its diplomatic missions abroad that he has designated Kim Jong-un as his successor.

The reported notification followed intelligence acquired by Yonhap four months earlier that the senior Kim chose Jong-un as his heir and sent a directive to the Workers' Party leadership on January 8, Jong-un's birthday.

The Dong-A Ilbo, a leading South Korean daily, ran a similar report on the official notification Tuesday.

In a meeting with the parliament intelligence committee in February, the National Intelligence Service said another hereditary power transfer "appears feasible" but did not comment on reports of Kim Jong-un's designation.

Lawmakers said Tuesday the intelligence agency told them those media reports "appeared to be true" and that it cited a diplomatic message sent to North Korean missions abroad to notify Jong-un as the next leader.

Jong-un, in his mid-20s, was born to Kim's third wife, Ko Yong-hi, who died of breast cancer at 51 in 2004. Jong-un is believed to have been educated at the International School of Berne and is said to be a fan of NBA basketball. After his return to Pyongyang in his late teens, the North has kept him under a shroud of secrecy and very little is known about his character.

Kim Jong-il was 32 when he was tapped as successor by his father and the nation's founder, Kim Il-sung, in a general meeting of the Workers' Party in 1974. He took over after his father's death in 1994.

Jong-un's succession, if actualized, will mark the second father-to-son power transfer in the North, unprecedented in the history of communist nations.