Monday, June 25, 2007

One of the questions on the quiz today had to do with differences between the leadership of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il. In my response, I touched on the fact that they both came to power very differently; Kim Il Sung really carved his own niche in North Korean society/politics by building up his image. On the other hand, Kim Jong Il was groomed to be the next leader. He later had to play down images of himself as a vibrant youth and the idea of him being careless. And even though socialists do not beleive in hereditary succession, that is exactly what is happening. So who's next? Poking around in some of last year's Blog posts, I found this article (albeit a little old now) that discusses Kim Jong Il's sons. I find it interesting that they, too, have gotten a reputation of being careless and unfit for the job as leader. It also talks about the fact that Kim Jong Il may have other children that he has not claimed, due to his so-called "voracious appetite for young women." It's really an interesting article that talks about the potential (or lack thereof) of each of the sons to become the next leader of North Korea.

1 comment:

Christina Sin said...

I find it highly doubtful that Kim Jong-Il's sons will be able to take over when he passes. Kim Il-Sung did not grow up being this god-like figure and to grow up as a child thinking that you were the sons of god has got to really screw with your mental processes. i do not think that Kim Jong-Il's sons would really take the regime seriously since they aren't used to really working and are so used to having things done their way. I can't imagine the surprise and shock they would get once they realized that they weren't so great and that everything couldn't be done their way. A lot of people think that North Korea will collapse once Kim Jong-Il dies, but I find that a bit hard to believe since I think that Kim Jong-Il probably has some secret plan just in case something happens to him. He might be careless and love the high life, but I don't think he's completely stupid and irrational to not plan for the future.