North Korean leader Kim Jong-il inspects chicken eggs during a trip last October to a poultry farm located in the communist state’s North Pyongan Province. [YONHAP]
Posted on 06/21/2010 7:32:23 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Kim being duped by subordinates
Power may be shifting to son, or aides are too fearful to tell the truth
June 21, 2010
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il inspects chicken eggs during a trip last October to a poultry farm located in the communist state’s North Pyongan Province. [YONHAP] |
Kim Jong-il’s subordinates are duping their leader with false or deliberately incomplete reports on national affairs, according to sources in Seoul informed of North Korean politics, a possible indication that his grip on power may be weakening.
The sources said there are two possible reasons why Kim is being cut out of the information loop. First, power may be shifting to his son Jong-un, perhaps faster than the North Korean leader desires. Other sources say the situation in the North, in particular its economy, is simply too bad for Kim’s subordinates to admit.
In either case, Kim is being prevented from grasping the full reality of what’s going on in North Korea.
“On the pretext of protecting the physical and mental health of Kim Jong-il, who still suffers from the aftereffects of a stroke he suffered in the summer of 2008, the power class [in the North] is giving selective or exaggerated reports to Kim,” said a South Korean government source, refusing to be identified. That source said some of the reports are manipulated by Kim Jong-un, Kim’s third son, who is likely to be his successor.
“Kim Jong-un, after being briefed by military leaders and the information service agents under his control on various issues, is selecting which reports go to Kim Jong-il, and which do not,” the source said.
There are signs that the North Korean leader doesn’t want his son to have such power yet. The source said Kim was recently informed by close subordinates that his son was manipulating information and, in response, ordered all reports to be given to him through his secretaries, not through Jong-un.
According to other government sources, however, many of the selective or exaggerated reports given to Kim are to prevent him from knowing how bad the economy is. After a recent failed currency reform, Kim began to demand improvement in the economy. To avoid reprimand, his subordinates are reporting that the economy is in better shape than it really is, the sources said.
For example, Kim visited a flour processing factory in Pyongyang in late January, but the factory was suffering from a shortage of wheat. To make operations look normal, Kim’s subordinates urgently secured some wheat to operate the production line during the visit. Kim stayed longer than expected, and the wheat ran out. Embarrassed, the subordinates put the completed flour through the production line a second time.
“Recently, Rodong Sinmun [the newspaper of the ruling Workers’ Party of the North] is boasting about improvement in the economy, reporting on Kim’s visits to many industrial sites, but the reality is much different from what it wants to project,” said a South Korean government official.
By Lee Young-jong [joe@joongang.co.kr]
Actually this has been going on for a long time. Local officials have been stage-managing the place of his visit to look good when Chia Head visits. However, being fed misleading information could be a new development. Kim Jong-il himself did the same thing to his dad, Kim Il-sung, while his dad is alive. Kim Il-sung did not realize how bad the economy was until a tall chimney of a factory in Pyongyang stopped billowing smoke. He found it odd and sent his aide to investigate. He was told that the factory ran out of coal. Then he sent the aide to the coal mine which supply coals to the factory. The aide found out that miners had not eaten for days. Kim Il-sung finally realized that his son Kim Jong-il had been feeding him massaged information to make the economy look good.
P!
Sounds like Father’s Day is coming late in NK. If Kim jr. follows the usual pattern, he’s going to have some fireworks ready for Dad.
So, instead of telling him that Portugal stomped his soccer team 7-0 this morning, they’ll tell him that they won 11-0 and, in fact, were awarded the World Cup by acclimation, canceling the rest of the tournament?
}:-)4
This is one of the reasons 30 million people starved during China’s Great Leap Forward.
I feel sorry for the N Korean Team. He may very well have them executed.
This is one of the reasons 30 million people starved during China’s Great Leap Forward.
If those guys are smart, they’re scattering for their lives right now. Nobody expected the North Korean team to contend for anything, and yeah, Portugal is a very strong team, but 7-0? That’s total humiliation. Mr. Ronery is not going to be a very happy Chia Head.
}:-)4
And they were feeling pretty good considering after only losing 2-1 to heavily favored Brazil.
They’d be wise to defect. The soccer team and the military are the only people in the country that get fed. At the very least I expect their rations to be cut.
I doubt N Korean’s 1 TV station will air the game. They will announce the tournament was rained out. ;d
That photo looks like Kim has been Photoshooped into it.
“That photo looks like Kim has been Photoshooped into it.”
MAN Chia Pet sound like any those English Kings like Henry 2 who don’t want his son suceed him LOL!
So what did younger Kim give Older Kim for Father day I wondering LOL!
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