Posted on 09/25/2010 3:50:17 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Power struggle rages in North Korean regime
A fierce battle is being waged behind the scenes for control of North Korea as Kim Jong-il prepares to anoint his successor, it has emerged.
By Malcolm Moore in Shanghai
Published: 9:00PM BST 24 Sep 2010
Factional in-fighting has broken out between Chang Song-taek, the rogue state's second-in-command, and a group of senior reform-minded officials, according to a source who has recently met people at the highest levels of the North Korean government.
The battle between the two sides comes as Kim Jong-il, the 68-year-old "Dear Leader", is in frail health and no concrete succession plan has yet to emerge.
Chang, 64, is married to Kim's sister and "always believed the crown would be his [one day]", according to the source. His ambition may yet be fulfilled, since many observers believe he could take charge of North Korea as a regent while Kim's third son, the 28-year-old Kim Jong-un, gains experience.
However, Chang has recently seen his hardline views being challenged by a group of reformists, bent on opening up the North Korean economy to Chinese-style capitalism.
"There are normal people who know which direction they have to go in," said the source, who was approached by top North Korean officials and asked to invest in the country. "The government does want to open up, and the only thing stopping them from doing so is Chang," he added.
The split in the Workers' Party, which echoes the division in the Chinese Communist party between hardliners and reformists during the 1970s and 1980s, may have prompted the recent two-week delay of the first party conference for nearly 45 years. The conference is now due to begin next week.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
There is a sucker born every minute. This Brit is taken for a ride. This could be a move to discredit Jang. Especially the allegation that he wants to be the top guy. So some folks do not like Jang but are they really reformers? For all we know, they could be those more militant than Jang, who just wants to get rid of Jang.
So-called normal people(probably technocrats) don't get to have real power in N. Korea. They work for power-that-be even when they are not happy with their bosses.
P!
Yes, my BS meter is going off as well!
We get this same, recycled story everytime the media wants to speculate that North Korea is going to have a leadership change.
Idiots in the MSM cannot understand that totalitarian regimes do not morph into nice, democratic ones without blood being spilled.
But liberals live in a fantasy world that if you tolerate a bad guy long enough, they will turn into a good guy. That is why they tell women who are being raped to not fight back.
Well it worked in Cuba!
After all — Castro morphed into a kindly father figure that both cheers and chides our own young “dear leader”
Jing, Chang, Walla Walla Bing Bang.
There are no reform-minded officials in North Korea. You don't get to the top in that hierarchy by being "reform-minded". It's an oxymoron like "tender-hearted concentration camp guards". Just read Hayek's "The Road to Serfdom" on why the worse end up on top in statist systems.
Delegates arrive for N. Korea talks
Delegates to a key meeting of North Korea’s ruling communist party, which is expected to pave the way for the country’s dynastic succession, arrived in Pyongyang today, state media reported.
Meanwhile, North Korea is preparing its largest ever military parade involving thousands of soldiers, tanks and missile launchers as the country gears up for this week’s major political meeting.
About 10,000 soldiers have been deployed to Mirim air base near Pyongyang since July to practise parades for a “large-scale national ceremony”, Yonhap news agency said, citing several unnamed sources in communist North Korea.
http://www.nation.co.ke/News/world/Delegates%20arrive%20for%20N.%20Korea%20talks/-/1068/1018446/-/tddhjjz/-/
They also said to preparing the largest military parade in NK history. Usually about 5,000 soldiers participate. This time 10,000 of them are assembled and set to march.
Thanks AdmSmith.
Mt. Baekdu volcano eruption likely to cause massive flood in North
The eruption of Mt. Baekdu volcano would likely cause severe flood damage, engulfing roads and homes within a 30 kilometer-radius in just 3 hours and 20 minutes, a report found on Monday.
According to the report by the National Emergency Management Agency, presented to Rep. Lee Myung-soo, damage by the flood would be extreme because about 2 billion tons of water on the top of Mt. Baekdu would be expected to pour off and sweep villages including the birthplace of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in Yanggang province.
http://www.koreaherald.com/national/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20100927000566
Xu Baokang, an expert on Korean Peninsula issues, told the Global Times Monday that “Any major shifts in its existing economic, social or foreign policies look impossible to take place.”
“North Korea's policies will remain to be strictly in line with Kim Il-sung’s ideas. Intensive speculations in Western media that Pyongyang is likely to adjust its policies dramatically are incorrect,” he said, adding that North Korea “can't endure risks stemming from major reforms.”
While predicting that the north will be politically stable, Lü Chao, a researcher of Korean studies at the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times that “China supports North Korea to be part of the international community, and the Chinese side will actively create favorable conditions so as to help the North get rid of its isolated situation in the world, which also serves China's national interests.”
http://world.globaltimes.cn/asia-pacific/2010-09/577879.html
SEOUL, South Korea - The North Korean state news agency says six people — including Kim Jong Un — have been promoted to the rank of general in the army ahead of a key party meeting Tuesday.
Kim Jong Un is the name of the youngest son of the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Il.
Also promoted was Kim Kyong Hui, which is the name of Kim Jong Il’s sister. Her name was listed ahead of Kim Jong Un’s in the report.
The Korean-language report gave only the names of those promoted and did not offer any personal descriptions. It would mark the first time that Kim Jong Un’s name has appeared in official media.
http://www.680news.com/news/world/article/106865—north-korean-leader-promotes-kim-jong-un-to-general-ahead-of-key-political-meeting
Not with a bang, but a whimper. We may be seeing the final days of that poisonous and illegal regime in Pyongyang. Perhaps that’s far too optimistic, but we all remember how the puppet state of E Germany voted itself out of existence and embraced their kinsmen. The ruling clique in NK will have to be gathered all in the same room, and then their throats cut, or their arrests carried out. The former is preferred, no chance of their talking some guard into letting them go.
China swallowed poison called N. Korea. Good luck digesting it and surviving.
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