SEOUL, South Korea — Kim Jong Il’s 26-year-old son has taken charge of the country’s spy agency as part of preparations to succeed his father as leader of the communist nation, a news report said today.
Kim ordered senior officials at the State Security Department in March to “uphold” his youngest son, Kim Jong Un, as head of the agency, while doling out foreign-made luxury cars to the officials as gifts, Seoul’s Dong-a Ilbo newspaper reported.
Kim told the officials to “safeguard comrade Kim Jong Un with (your) lives as you did for me in the past,” the mass-market daily said, citing an unidentified source. The five cars handed out to officials were worth some $80,000 each, the paper said.
It also said the younger Kim has overseen the handling of two U.S. journalists detained in March while on a reporting trip to the Chinese-North Korean border. Laura Ling and Euna Lee were sentenced earlier this month to 12 years of hard labor for crossing into the country illegally and engaging in “hostile acts.”
South Korea’s main spy agency, the National Intelligence Service, said it could not confirm the report.
Pyongyang’s State Security Department is the backbone of Kim’s authoritarian rule over the nation of 24 million. It keeps a close watch over government agencies, the military and ordinary citizens for any sign of dissent. It also engages in spy missions abroad.
The move to put Kim Jong Un in charge of the agency illustrates his father’s concern about a possible backlash to a father-to-son succession, the Dong-a Ilbo said. The North plans to bolster the agency by putting the country’s 100,000-strong border-guarding force under its command, it said.
In Washington, D.C., State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters that Mats Foyer, Sweden’s ambassador to North Korea, visited the American journalists in Pyongyang on Tuesday. Sweden serves as the U.S. protecting power in North Korea because Washington does not have diplomatic relations with North Korea.
Foyer has been in “constant contact” with the North, Kelly said. He said the U.S. was “pursuing many different avenues” to secure their release, but he would not elaborate.
The question of who will succeed the 67-year-old Kim has been the focus of intense media speculation since the leader reportedly suffered a stroke last August. That sparked regional concerns about instability in the nuclear-armed country and a possible power struggle if Kim died without naming a successor.
The talk has further intensified since Seoul’s spy agency reported to lawmakers early this month that the regime in Pyongyang notified its diplomatic missions and government agencies that Kim Jong Un will be the next leader.
Seoul’s JoongAng Ilbo newspaper reported earlier this month that he had been given the title of “Brilliant Comrade,” another sign that the regime was preparing to name him as successor.
Japan’s Mainichi newspaper reported last weekend that Jong Un was serving as acting chairman of the National Defense Commission, the country’s highest post, one currently held by his father.
A senior South Korean government official said today he could not confirm the reports but said Seoul believes a succession plan is under way in North Korea. He spoke on condition of anonymity, citing department policy.
Kim Jong Il was anointed North Korea’s leader in 1974 and formally took power when his father, founder Kim Il Sung, died in 1994.
Kim has two other known sons. The eldest, Jong Nam, 38, was considered the favorite until he was caught trying to enter Japan on a fake passport in 2001, reportedly to visit the Disney resort.
Kim considers the middle son, Jong Chol, 28, too effeminate, according to the leader’s former sushi chef.
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