A dynastic power struggle has reportedly begun in North Korea where experts have identified three rival factions jockeying for position behind Kim Jong-un.
A dynastic power struggle has reportedly begun in North Korea where experts have identified three rival factions jockeying for position behind Kim Jong-un, the country's new leader.
While the official media in North Korea have begun fashioning a personality cult around the late leader’s youngest son Kim Jong-un, who became a general last year despite lacking any military experience, his inexperience has opened the way for more practiced operators to increase their influence, The Telegraph reports.
Three factions may now be taking shape behind the new leader.
Perhaps the most significant is led by Chang Sung-taek, a pillar of the regime who serves as vice-chairman of the National Defence Commission. His wife, Kim Kyong-hui, is the younger sister of the late leader.
Kim may well rely on the guidance of this powerful couple, his aunt and uncle-by-marriage, both more than 30 years his senior.
Their influence became clear last week when they were photographed accompanying the late dictator on a visit to a state supermarket in Pyongyang that turned out to be his final engagement.
Chang, 65, benefits from a significant power base on the National Defence Commission, which amounts to North Korea's supreme decision-making body.
He is judged to be a pragmatist rather than an ideologue, sympathetic to modest economic reform, in line with proposals made by China.
Chang will probably face important rivals.
Among them is Kim Sul-song, the 36-year-old daughter of the late leader, who was close to her father and still holds an important position in the state's propaganda department.
Meanwhile, Kim Jong-nam, the former dictator's eldest son, may also seek to rebuild his influence.
Originally viewed as the most likely successor, the 40-year-old fell out of favour when he tried to leave the country and make a clandestine trip to Japan in 2001.
But there are signs that he subsequently restored some of his reputation. Since 2008, he was occasionally allowed to speak on behalf of his father in meetings with foreign visitors.
Each of these three figures may try to be the power behind the throne.
In the meantime, the official propaganda machine has sought to link the new leader with his grandfather, Kim Il-sung, the founder of North Korea who is still the country's official head of state despite having died in 1994.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}