Posted on 10/10/2005 8:04:26 AM PDT by Valin
PYONGYANG (Reuters) - Women danced in mini-skirted military uniforms as North Korea marked the 60th anniversary of its communist party on Monday, while speculation mounted over whether its leader would use the occasion to name a successor. At an event attended by leader Kim Jong-il and thousands of his military brass and cadres on Sunday, the emphasis was on Pyongyang's long-standing "songun" military-first policy and its "juche" ideal of self-reliance. "We should fully embody the party's songun politics, an all-powerful treasured sword for victory in revolution under any circumstances and conditions, and direct primary efforts to the strengthening of the Korean People's Army," the North's No. 2, Kim Yong-nam, said in remarks carried on the KCNA news agency.
The anniversary of the Workers' Party of Korea is a time when the reclusive country revels in mass games and provides its citizens with a few extra bowls of rice to celebrate. But for this anniversary, outside attention has been focused on whether Kim Jong-il will name one of his three sons to a key post in the ruling party, which in effect would amount to naming a successor-in-waiting in the world's only communist dynasty. The Russian news agency Itar-Tass last week quoted a diplomatic source in Pyongyang as saying Kim may use the event to announce a successor. Analysts said the precise timing and which son he would pick were anyone's guess.
The eldest of his known sons, Kim Jong-nam, has apparently fallen into disfavor for trying to sneak into Japan on a false passport to visit Tokyo Disneyland. The other two, Kim Jong-chol and Kim Jong-un, are in their 20s and may be too young to be named the North's next leader-in-waiting, analysts said.
Kim Seung-whan, a North Korea expert for the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Kim Jong-il must lay the groundwork before naming a successor. "If Kim Jong-il picks one of his sons as the North's next leader, he and his successor will have to face some harsh resistance from political and military leaders," the expert said. "Kim does not have as much power and support from people as his father."
At 63, Kim Jong-il is about the same age his father Kim Il-sung was in 1974 when he made his son secretary to the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea. Taking that role in the ruling party structure was tantamount to Kim Il-sung naming Kim Jong-il his successor, analysts said.
GREAT DAY OUT
Couples strolled hand in hand along the streets of the capital on Monday, some wearing western clothes, some women and girls wearing the traditional pink and blue Korean dress under a picture-perfect blue sky. "The party of steel, the party of no deceit", read one of the many banners celebrating the anniversary. Han Sung-chol, the guide for a South Korean delegation, beamed with pride. "You came on a great day," he said.
The most pressing public concerns for North Korea's leaders these days are not who will take over from Kim Jong-il. Instead, Pyongyang may be preoccupied with forming diplomatic priorities for the next round of multilateral talks scheduled for November on ending its nuclear weapons programs.
Although Kim Jong-il sits as the general secretary of the Workers' Party, analysts said the most powerful part of the North Korean leadership was the military. Kim Jong-il's real seat of leadership comes from his post as the chairman of the National Defense Commission, they said.
Kim made a rare public appearance on Sunday to watch a mass performance at the May Day Stadium marked with song, thousands of people with flash cards acting in perfect synchronization to form huge pictures and a group of women swinging swords and high-kicking in mini-skirted military garb. He also watched a mass display at the huge Kim Il-sung Square in the center of Pyongyang involving hundreds of thousands of military personnel, civilians and students. "It was tremendous," said Park Sang-kwon, president of Seoul-based Pyeonghwa Motors Corp., who has being doing business in the North for 13 years. "It makes you wonder what other country would be able to do something like that."
(With additional reporting by Cheon Jong-woo in Seoul)
© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.
Hello! PICTURES!
To Hell with the parade - I wanna see "what's his name" get 11 holes-in-one in one round!
He's so ronery, so very ronery...
Gee, thanks. When do we get our Glorious Revolutionary Bomb?
Nothing quite like seeing the bony knees of a half starved Korean woman to get the revolutionary fervor going.
No one in Kim's entourage looks like they're starving.
CLIP????????????
What? Is he kidding?
I know North Korea is a communist wasteland, but dammit, they're doing SOMETHING right :0)
-Eric
Sounds like L. Ron Hubard's "Sea Org." division of his Scientology network.
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