Posted on 03/15/2008 3:49:14 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
03/12/2008 12:51
Kim Jong-il fears coup, strips military of power
A North Korean government source says a major shift is underway in North Korea’s military-first policy. Decisions are overturned and funds for the armed forces are cut by 30 per cent to prevent the generals from taking over. Secret police is strengthened.
Seoul (AsiaNews) – North Korea’s decades-old “military-first” policy is changing as the power of the Communist regime’s army is reduced in favour of the Ministry of People’s Security. Some experts suggest the shift is related to the ongoing battle over the succession to the ‘dear leader’ who fears a generals’ coup.
The report comes from a source inside the government in Pyongyang, anonymous for security reason, who spoke to the South Korean daily Dong-a Ilbo.
The source said yesterday that “Kim Jong Il has ordered the military to transfer its foreign operations to his cabinet and is implementing a radical reform of military authorities.”
Kim ordered a cut to the armed forces by 30 per cent, including the number of soldiers.
The changes should be announced before the end of March, but the source noted that officers in the chain of command including the Ministry of the People’s Armed Forces, the National Security Council, the Ministry of State Inspection and the General Staff Department began retiring in January.
The Ministry of People’s Security is instead being strengthened. Funds taken from the military are said to have already been given to the “secret police” which will now be able to probe the military, hitherto protected from outside interference.
According to the source the shift shows how much Kim Jong-il is afraid of the power vacuum that his death might cause, and that he is convinced that his dynasty has the right to rule over the country. For this reason he does not want the military to come forward in a power struggle.
Funny map. But there’s nothing “sound” about North Korea.
Kim Jong il should know he is living on borrowed time. He will be removed one way or another.
sounds more like issues over sharing
BOY Chia Pet be roaney this time LOLOLOL!
The Norks have a well established history of foreign involvement. They were the Sovs go to guys for cadre to train any and all anti-western terror/guerrilla groups from the PI to the Middle East.
The Norks did a fair job of playing the Sovs against the PDRChinese but the Norks were truly owned and operated by the Sovs and the Chinese gave up on them long ago. When “the wall” came down, the Norks were a huge looser in funding but they still tend to dance to the Russian shot callers.
Most recently, for example, Nork involvement with Syrian CBR and rocket development attempts.
That is exactly what I thought upon reading this article. The end may be near. In Kim’s case, he raised this beast called N. Korean military in order to shore up his regime which was shaken badly by catastrophic famine. Now that it has grown too big, he wants to cut it down to size. It may not work as he intended.
I can think of two backdrops: (1) N. Korean system and society are showing symptoms of an organization at its last leg of life. Things are falling apart. N. Korean regime has been frantically trying to reassert control with various measures. It all boils down to ban people from being engaged in private business, escaping N. Korea, communicating via cellphones, and bringing in stuffs from outside. Kim Jong-il wants to put Genie back to a bottle. It is not going well. His regime has been slowly falling apart, but its pace picked up lately. (2) His ailment is worse than media reported, and succession process is not progressing smoothly. Powerful factions are evenly matched up, hampering easy resolution. The stakes are really high, and there is also almost certain chance of foreign intervention if things go wrong during this power struggle. So Kim Jong-il needs to forestall any potential dangers such as his military meddling in. However, it can invite another danger such as alienating military for good.
He is in no win situation, so to speak.
Everybody including U.S., S. Korea, and China put up business-as-usual facade now, but somehow I find it deceiving, in light of sudden media exposure given to potential contingency plan for N. Korea's breakup.
Agreed.
What's KoreaCom for Schutzstaffel?
yitbos
Won’t be long before he will need a double-secret police to protect him from the secret police. But they do have free health care!
LOL, you’re going to confuse the Liberal lurkers with that map.
Thank you. I didn’t know ANY of that and appreciate your detailed answer.
Kim Jong Il: Now you see, the changing of the worrd is inevitabre!
Lisa: I'm sorry, it's what?
Kim Jong Il: Inevit, inevitabre.
Lisa: One more time.
Kim Jong Il: [shouts] Inevitabre! Things are inevitabrey going to change! Goddamnit, open your fucking ears!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.