Kim Jong-un is confirmed as Great Kuhuna

Kim Jong-un is confirmed as Great Kuhuna

Kim Jong-un, the youngest and previously least-known son of Kim Jong-il, was declared to be the next leader of North Korea following the death of his father on Dec. 17, 2011.

During nearly two weeks of national mourning following the announcement of his father's death from a heart attack, an elaborate series of ceremonies introduced Kim Jong-un as the new dynastic leader, culminating in a mass rally on Dec. 29 at which tens of thousands of North Koreans rallied to pledge their allegiance.



How much Kim Jong-un had consolidated his grip on power before his father's death — and whether he would have to depend on caretakers or even regents — remained topics of intense speculation and contention. All indications from the North, however, suggested that at least in the public eye, he will not share power with anyone.

North Korea has said the "great successor," as Mr. Kim has been called, will faithfully follow his father's songun, or "military-first," policy, which has raised tensions with Washington and Seoul.

The younger Mr. Kim is such an unknown that the world did not even know what he looked like until his ailing father began grooming him as a successor in 2010. But the biggest enigma may be whether he will be able to hold onto power in this last bastion of hard-line Communism, much less prevent its impoverished economy from collapsing.

Kim Jong-un is believed to be in his late 20s and his youth and relative inexperience could make him vulnerable to power struggles. News of his father's death was kept secret for roughly two days, perhaps a sign that the leadership was struggling to position itself for what many believe could be a perilous transition.

A few hours after the announcement, the ruling Workers' Party and other state institutions released a joint statement suggesting Mr. Kim's chosen successor, Kim Jong-un, was in charge.

The statement called the son "the great successor to the revolution" and "the eminent leader of the military and the people." It was the first time North Korea referred to the son as "leader" since his ailing father pulled him out of obscurity in September 2010 and made him a four-star general and vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party, which was overseen by his father. In February 2011, he was given a senior position on the National Defense Commission, the country's most powerful body.

On Dec. 20, when Kim Jong-un paid respects at his father's glass coffin at the Kumsusan mausoleum in Pyongyang, the regime stepped up a campaign to portray the country as standing behind its young new leader. Combined with an outpouring of effusive praise for the son, the official coverage of the mourning seemed to reflect a calculated propaganda message meant to depict a smooth transition. The media began calling him "another leader sent from the heaven," a description until now reserved for his father.

The Question of the Military's Allegiance

The support of the military is crucial if Kim Jong-un is to consolidate power. To that end, on Dec. 21 North Korean television showed senior military leaders saluting the young Mr. Kim as he received mourners at the Kumsusan mausoleum.

Three days later, state-run media showed footage of the top military brass flanking Kim Jong-un as they paid their respects to Kim Jong-il and vowed their allegiance to his chosen successor. Among the officials there was Jang Song-taek, 65, the younger Mr. Kim's uncle and a vice chairman of the powerful National Defense Commission, whose role as the young successor's caretaker was magnified during the transition. Mr. Jang, 65, wore a general's insignia.

On Dec. 28, the day of Kim Jong-il's funeral, Kim Jong-un walked alongside the hearse through snow-covered downtown Pyongyang, leading a procession that provided early glimpses of those serving as guardians of the young untested leader. Mr. Kim's two elder brothers, Kim Jong-nam and Kim Jong-chol, were nowhere to be seen.

Most prominent among those leading the funeral alongside and behind Mr. Kim were Mr. Jang and and Ri Yong-ho, head of the North Korean military's general staff.

Mr. Ri, a relatively unknown figure during most of Kim Jong-il's rule, rose to prominence in 2010 as the late leader began grooming his son as heir. He is considered an important backer of Kim Jong-un in the Korean People's Army.

In a closed-door briefing at parliament in Seoul, South Korea's National Intelligence Service noted that Mr. Jang might expand his influence into the military to ensure a smooth transition, according to lawmakers who attended the briefing.

The spy agency also noted a sense of vulnerability in the North Koreans' hurry to thrust the son into the spotlight. Long before his father died in 1994, Kim Jong-il had already seized power, including the leadership of the military. Unlike his son, Kim Jong-un, he was in no hurry to assume his father's top titles like "great leader."

From South Korea, a Private Delegation

Though South Korea sent no official mourners, a private delegation of prominent South Koreans traveled to North Korea and met with Kim Jong-un. The meeting with the private delegation, which included Lee Hee-ho, the widow of former President Kim Dae-jung, and the chairwoman of Hyundai Asan, Hyun Jeong-eun, which had business ties with North Korea, appeared to be cordial.

The Seoul government said that Ms. Lee and Ms. Hyun were reciprocating for the North Korean delegations that visited Seoul to express condolences over the deaths of President Kim and of Chung Mong-hun, the former Hyundai chairman.

Grooming the Son for a Leadership Role

Some analysts said Kim Jong-il had used the years after his first brush with mortality, a stroke in 2008, to successfully build up support for this untested son. They also said North Korea's ruling class might also recognize that, at least for now, they have no other choice but to accept the succession: the elder Mr. Kim's two older sons are seen as lazy playboys, while any move to reject the Kim family could unravel the legitimacy of the entire regime.

In recent years the regime was helping Kim Jong-un inherit a personality cult of his own. On state TV, he was packaged to look like his grandfather, Kim Il-Sung: Mao suit, swept-back hair and the gravitas North Koreans associate with the "Great Leader," who died in 1994. Scenes on state-run television showing octogenarian party secretaries bowing to a man Kim Jong-Un before accepting the smiling young man's handshake or kowtowing to his instructions have become a staple of North Korea's propagandist media.

Kim Jong-il had fought for his inheritance as much as it was bestowed upon him by his father. He terrorized the older elite and won their grudging respect in a process of consolidating absolute power that lasted decades. By comparison, Kim Jong-un resembled more of an inexperienced, even clueless, dauphin thrust onto a fast track whipped together after his father's stroke in 2008.

Background

When his father began to push Kim Jong-un forward, there was only one picture of him available outside North Korea. In that picture, he was 11 years old.

"When Prince Jong-un shook hands with me, he fixed me with a vicious look," Kim Jong-il's former Japanese sushi chef wrote in a 2003 memoir describing his first encounter with the boy, then 7, dressed in a military uniform and known as a "prince" among his father's aides. "I still cannot forget the look in his eyes. It seemed to say, 'This is a despicable Japanese.' "

The chef, who goes by the pen name Kenji Fujimoto, said in an interview that as a teenager, Kim Jong-un was already his father's favorite and "looked just like him."

The lone photo and Mr. Fujimoto's memories form part of the few precious strands of information analysts and intelligence officials in South Korea and Washington rely on as they struggle to put together a dossier on Kim Jong-un. They describe Kim Jong-un as a young man of medium height, overweight and prone to high blood pressure and suffering from diabetes, and with character traits similar to his father's.

Kim Jong-il had at least five children with three women. Sung Hae-rim, a movie star, gave birth to Kim Jong-nam. She became estranged from Kim Jong-il after he married Kim Young-sook, who gave birth to one daughter (some say two) but no son.

Then Mr. Kim fell for Ko Young-hee, the prima donna of North Korea's premier opera, who was born in Japan and emigrated to the North in the 1960s. She had two sons — Kim Jong-chol and Kim Jong-un — and a daughter, Kim Yeo-jong. Until Ms. Ko died of breast cancer in 2004, she was Mr. Kim's de facto first lady and a fierce campaigner for her sons.

With no mother to promote him to his father, Kim Jong-nam scuttled what remote chance he had of succession when he was caught and deported while sneaking into Japan with a fake passport in 2001. He was headed for Tokyo Disneyland.

The middle son, Kim Jong-chol, attended the International School of Berne in Switzerland in the 1990s under the pseudonym Pak Chol, according to analysts and journalists in Seoul, as well as Mr. Fujimoto — though other analysts dispute these accounts. He was said to be a fan of Michael Jordan, Eric Clapton and Keanu Reeves. Mr. Fujimoto wrote that Ms. Ko often took her sons on trips to Europe and Tokyo Disneyland, and that Kim Jong-un learned English.

Analysts are divided over whether Kim Jong-un also attended the school in Switzerland. They say he was enrolled from 2002 to 2007 in the Kim Il-sung Military University, a leading officer-training school in Pyongyang, the capital, but was taught at home.

Mr. Fujimoto said that Kim Jong-il dismissed his second son, Kim Jong-chol, as "girlish" but openly complimented Kim Jong-un, saying, "That boy is like me."

THIS ALL FROM A GREAT ARTICLE IN THE NEW YORK TIMES