Does Kim Jong un’s illegitimate birth complicate North Korean succession scenarios? If Kim were suddenly removed from power by any means, the potential succession is not at all clear. In fact, there is much about Kim’s position in his family that is not clear. That, in turn, explains some of the assassinations he has ordered since assuming power.
Juche
The North Korean ideology known as Juche (“JOO-shay”), usually translated as self-reliance, is a strict code that governs national actions and priorities. It has been adopted in the constitution as the standard by which every action – official, governmental, family, or individual – is judged. Juche governs North Korean leadership succession in particular, specifying that all leadership is vested in the family of the founding “Great Leader” Kim Il Song, the current Kim’s grandfather. “The Suryong (Leader) is an impeccable brain of the living body. The masses can be endowed with their life in exchange for their loyalty to him, and the Party is the nerve of that living body…. Without the Leader, which is the brain, and the Party, which is the nerve, the masses will remain dead bodies, because they are no more than arms and legs.”
The devotion of the North Korean people to Juche and the Kim family is reflexive and fanatical.
The devotion of the North Korean people to Juche and the Kim family is reflexive and fanatical. If Kim dies or is removed from power, appointing his successor will technically be in the hands of the Organization Guidance Department, the OGD. According to Juche, the new leader must come from the family of Kim Il Sung, however, it is uncertain which member or branch of the family it might be.
To begin with, Kim’s own relationship to his grandfather is not as clear as it seems. According to a source with ties to South Korean security services, Kim Jong un’s mother never officially married his father, the “Dear Leader” Kim Jong Il. Kim Jong Il was married only twice, and each marriage produced a daughter, but in North Korea women are not eligible to rule the country.
When Kim Jong Il met Kim Jong un’s mother, Ko Young Hee, she was a 22 year-old dancer.
While Kim Jong Il was married to his second wife, he maintained separate living arrangements with two other women: the mother of Kim Jung Nam (who was assassinated in the Kuala Lumpur airport last year) and the mother of Kim Jong un and his two siblings (an older brother and a younger sister). When Kim Jong Il met Kim Jong un’s mother, Ko Young Hee, she was a 22 year-old dancer, and they soon became romantically involved. They had a house in the Chul Bong Lee neighborhood of Pyongyang, but later moved to Hea Banz Santong, where Kim Jong un was born.
Family Secrets
It was important to Jong Eun to eliminate his half-brother, Kim Jung Nam, to ensure that he could never use Jong un’s own illegitimate birth to mount a leadership challenge. After Jung Nam’s murder, the regime announced that he and a murdered uncle had been part of a Chinese plot to oust Jong un, but Korean sources indicate that Jong un was killing those who stood to gain from knowing the family secret. Jung Nam had a son who is now in his early 20s, but so far he has escaped his half-uncle’s wrath. His youth would suggest that he does not know about the illegitimacy.
Two further complicating factors are Kim Jong un’s uncle, Kim Pyong Il, the current North Korean ambassador to the Czech Republic; and his grandfather’s younger brother, Kim Yong Ju. Pyong Il could have a credible claim to rule, and Yong Ju, who is now in his late 90s, could be asked by the OGD to nominate a new leader.
All this illustrates one practical reason the U.S. government’s executive order forbidding assassination has been confirmed by each successive president since it was first issued by Gerald Ford: it doesn’t work. It may seem like the easy way out – a simple removal of a very bad man, to prevent war and destruction on a mass scale – but without knowing who or what will replace him, it’s better not to take the chance. We could end up with someone worse, or with a fanatically energized anarchy that could lead more certainly to nuclear war than even Kim Jong un.
