Kim Jong-chul, North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's second son, was assigned to the post of the vice chief of the ruling Korean Workers' Party's Organization and Guidance Department, a hugely influential posts in North Korea, the Mainichi Shimbun reported Saturday. Quoting sources close to the North Korean regime, the Japanese daily wrote the 27-year old ˇ°has his office at the KWP headquarters, as Chairman Kim does. He receives instructions from his father as occasion arises."
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An image captured from video of a man thought to be Kim Jong-chul, 27, the second son of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. Japan's Fuji TV aired video footage of a young man believed to be Kim Jong-chul walking on a street in Germany on June 15, 2006. The man looks more like Kim Il-sung (right), the late North Korean founder, than Kim Jong-il.
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Kim Jong-chul was first assigned to the KWP Organization and Guidance Department a few years ago and promoted to vice chief post this year. The first vice chief of the department, Ri Je-gang, served as mentor for Kim Jong-chul, who has little experience in party affairs. "Chairman Kim worked at the KWP Organization and Guidance Department, gained control of the party organization and succeeded to his father,ˇ± the Mainichi wrote. ˇ°For now, Kim Jong-chul seems the most likely candidate to succeed Chairman Kim, considering that his two other sons have not yet been given any important posts."
Kim Jong-il himself was assigned to the post of vice chief of the department in 1969 at 27, the same age Kim Jong-chul is now, and emerged as the official successor to his father at age 32, five years later, the paper recalls. ˇ°Five years from now, when Chairman Kim turns 70 and Kim Jong-chul 32, it is likely that North Korea will announce Chairman Kim's successor." The other two sons are Kim Jong-nam (36), whose mother, the former movie actress Sung Hae-rim, died in 2002, and Jong-woon (24), whose mother was Ko Yong-hui, a former Korean-Japanese from Osaka who died in 2004.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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