So if you had your druthers, kids, who would you choose to be North Korea’s next Leader Supremo?

Who will be the man who leads DPRK’s “victorious” folk into the next glorious decade of bliss over in Paradise On Earth? Who will carry the nation into the hostile rapids of the world’s rushing torrents, into the mighty planetary wind of dissent? A world that wishes nothing more than to destroy and subjugate the Korean people for all time (or so goes the thinking)?

Would you choose the “Young General” and former heir presumptive, Kim Jong-nam?

(Kim Jong-nam, the “Young General” — are we really supposed to be afraid of this guy?)



Or perhaps the Youth Captain and current heir apparent, Kim Jong-un (eun)?

(Is this Kim Jong-un?)



Tough choice, ain’t it? Yeah, we thought so too…

So I thought it might be a good exercise to list the pros and cons of these two Bam Bam spitting-image progeny becoming DPRK’s next potential pygmy dictators. Okay? All the better to help my North Korean brothers and sisters who are regular readers of North Korea Blues make a more informed choice about who to “vote” for in upcoming elections we hope are sure to follow September’s monumental KWP All-Workers Congress.

Well, here’s to hoping, anyway.

Let’s start with the heavyweight champ first, Jong-nam:

Pros:

• Jong-nam’s pugnacious, rotund stature is almost dead-ringer for Poppa Bam Bam himself, at least before the latter’s August 2008’s stroke. North Koreans will visually connect him with the Dear Leader, making any potential leadership forward pass eminently simpler for the hapless citizenry who could care less about such things beyond mere formalities. I’m not saying North Koreans are facile, blind, or unthinking by any stretch (no, siree!) — just that they’re already accustomed to familiar sights and signals emanating from Pyongyang’s Kim Il-sung Palace. How much easier it would be to link Jong-nam’s appearance to Bam Bam’s? A lot, I reckon.
• the “Young General” seems to be just about as risk-seeking as Daddy-O, satisfying North Koreans’ inner need for a come-what-may leader who satisfies their genetically-inherited kamikaze-like need to dominate the entire Korean peninsula at all costs. Just sayin’…
• Jong-un’s international travel experience differs from that of his father, who hasn’t ventured further than Moscow. His international perspective might temper some of Jong-un’s more radical future “policies,” if only because the Young General knows what’s happening in the world beyond DPRK’s borders.
• he is eldest, after all, which holds more water than you think in this patrimonial part of the world.

Cons:

• Jong-nam seems to have fallen out of favor with Bam Bam, following a humiliating 2001 incident in Japan. It was highly embarrassing for all countries involved. Jong-nam might have been petulantly trying to show up his father at the time.
• he’s eldest: perhaps the Dear Leader seeks a loyal sycophant (even if it is his youngest son, Kim Jong-un) to carry the mantle of DRPK’s leadership far into the future, once he’s long gone. There exists a 12-year age gap between the two potential candidates, for the record.
• Jong-nam has already expressed his disinterest in assuming North Korea’s leadership, which is probably a face-saving remark which betrays his father’s complete lack of faith in his abilities to take over. In January 2009, he said it was up to his father to decide what to do. Horse puckey!
• Jong-nam spends most of his idle time in Macau’s casinos. He seems to be more of a loose cannon, and therefore Bam Bam may have decided North Korea needs a different kind of headman to carry DPR Korea into the coming decades.

(Kim Jong-nam in Macau)



On the other hand, there’s Jong-un, the “Youth Captain:”



Pros:

• age: Jong-un’s got that tender 27 years-old thing going for him! He can be gracefully molded into the leader Bam Bam ultimately desires him to be, and rumors abound how this abstract intention has already been placed on the real-life fast track. A pliable, reliable temporary regent — Bam Bam’s brother-in-law (the husband of his younger sister), Jang Song Taek, has already been appointed to hold the reins of power in the event Kim Jong-il suddenly croaks.
• Jong-un’s never-say-die attitude — as claimed by Kim Jong-il’s former sushi chef — Kenji Fujimoto — is astonishingly similar to Bam Bam’s former (pre-stroke) temperament.
• the Youth Captain is the most internationally-experienced of all the Kims, having spent his formative years at exclusive boarding schools in Bern, Switzerland until 1998. He speaks several languages as well, flying in the face of the usual the Kim trends.
• Jong-un also seems the most militarily-inclined of the two young Kims. Despite his father’s official command of North Korea’s military, Bam Bam’s grip on it is reportedly very tenuous. Jong-un is rumored to be presently undergoing extensive military leadership training in advance of September’s KWP All-Workers Congress, to bolster his profile and as a likely form of indoctrination.

Cons:

• Jong-un has expressed uncharacteristic doubts in the past about the injustices running like a seam through North Korea’s plagued society. If he peaks too early and is brought into the leadership limelight before his time, the Americans and South Koreans might try to play him off against the Chinese and lure him closer to the moderate camp. Jong-un’s appointment might be the best shot the US/ROK has had in quite some time to blunt some of the bitter edge off the DPRK cabal regime in decades.
• lack of an independent (Kim-ist) streak: the Chinese — allegedly — have already been formally introduced to the young man and — some say — already have their hooks into him. If Jong-un begins to lean suddenly towards the South, the Chinese might attempt to yank him back into line and harness him under their influence. It could generate much unwanted tension on the peninsula and in the region, and this would not only irk the US/ROK, but also the Japanese. The Chinese surely don’t want this, but who knows where the PRC might go if pushed.
• a potential loose cannon as well: Jong-un might patiently bide his time under this father’s tutelage, waiting for his chance to pounce once he’s clear of Bam Bam’s wing. Once Kim Jong-il has once and for all “left the building,” the Youth Captain may wish to make a foolishly belligerent show of force and brinkmanship just to prove to the naysayers, the Chinese, and the citizens of the Kim Farm that he’s no mere daddy’s boy. This would be the absolute worst of all outcomes.

The sad part about our story, friends, is that the nod appears to have already been given to Jong-un. The wheels are already in motion.

Jong-un’s official birthday has already been made a national holiday. Even his new moniker, “Youth Captain,” was meant to give the young man more of a marshal bearing.

Posters, too, will soon adorn Pyongyang beaming the message to North Koreans, once and for all, who exactly their future hereditary leader really is and what he looks like.

We can only nervously await September’s congress and helplessly witness what Bam Bam has in store for the South Koreans, the US, the Japanese, and the entire world.







Originally appearing at North Korea Blues

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