Kim Jong-il’s eldest son says the North Korean regime under half-brother won’t last, Chosun Ilbo reports

TOKYO (TR) – The eldest son of recently-deceased North Korean leader Kim Jong-il said his half-brother’s dynastic succession is seen as a “joke” and his reign is doomed to fail whether he introduces reforms or not, the South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo reported, citing letters from Kim Jong-nam to a Japanese journalist.

In the correspondence over a seven-year period, Kim Jong-nam said his father originally wanted to end the hereditary transfer of power started by his grandfather, Kim Il-sung, the founder of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, because he believed it would discredit their accomplishments, according to the Chosun Ilbo. Kim Jong-nam said his father later came to believe the regime could only survive under the leadership of the Kim bloodline.

The elder Kim, who was schooled in Switzerland, said he was passed over by his father to lead the nation because he grew disillusioned over the situation in North Korea and supported capitalist reform, according to the paper. He said he has never met his half-brother Kim Jong-un, the Chosun Ilbo said.

“Kim Jong-un is still just a nominal figure and the members of the power elite will be the ones in actual power,” Kim Jong-nam said in his correspondence with the Japanese editor, according to the paper. “The dynastic succession is a joke to the outside world. Rather than welcoming the hereditary succession, China is merely acknowledging it for the sake of maintaining stability,” he said.

The elder son, who maintains a residence in Macau and who once attempted to enter Japan on a falsified passport to go to Disneyland, said his father shortened his younger sibling’s overseas education because of the influence it had on him, according to the Chosun Ilbo.

Source: Chosun Ilbo

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