Kim's Oldest Son Opposes Dynastic Succession
The Telegraph reports:
Kim Jong-nam, 39, who lives in the gambling hub of Macao and was once said to be too "wayward" for the leadership, said he did not approve of the hereditary principle that saw his 27-year-old half-brother Kim Jong-un being groomed as the North's next leader last month.
"I hope my younger brother will do his best to make the lives of the North Korean people affluent. For my part, I am prepared to help my younger brother whenever necessary while I stay abroad." After two years of speculation, the issue of who would succeed Kim Jong-il appeared to have been resolved this month in favour of Kim Jong-un who was promoted to four-star general and given a host of senior political appointments at a key meeting of the North Korea's Workers' Party.
"Personally I am opposed to the hereditary transfer to a third generation of the family," Jong-nam told Japan's Asahi TV Network in an interview conducted in Beijing on Saturday.
He was speaking before Kim Jong-un made his first major public appearance as leader-in-waiting, standing next to his ailing father while reviewing a massive military parade in Pyongyang on Sunday.
Although disapproving of the hereditary principle, Jong-nam, the son of an actress who died in 2002, said he would continue to support his brother from afar, hinting that he had no plans to return home after his brother took power.
"As a matter of course, I think it was my father who made the decision. As I have had no interest in the matter, I don't care at all," he said.
He added that he also hope that his brother could improve living standards in North Korea which remains desperately poor as a result of crippling economic sanctions and a Soviet-style command-economy.
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