Kim appoints son as N. Korea spy chief

[jimmy olsen]

I'm a 26 year old college grad, why can't I be named head of the CIA?   

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31519379/ns/world_news-asiapacific/

Report: Kim appoints son as N. Korea spy chief
Step may be aimed at preparing 26-year-old to inherit country's leadership

updated 6:47 a.m. ET, Wed., June 24, 2009

SEOUL, South Korea - The youngest son of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has taken charge at the country's spy agency to prepare him to inherit the leadership of the communist nation from his father, a news report said Wednesday.

Kim told senior officials of the State Security Department in March to "uphold" his 26-year-old third son, Kim Jong Un, as head of the agency, while doling out foreign-made luxury cars to the officials as gifts, Seoul's Dong-a Ilbo newspaper reported.

Kim told the officials to "safeguard comrade Kim Jong Un with (your) lives as you did for me in the past," according to the mass-market daily that cited an unidentified source. The five cars given to them were worth some $80,000 each, the paper said.

It also said the younger Kim has overseen the handling of two U.S. journalists detained in March while on a reporting trip to the China-North Korea border. The reporters were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor earlier this month for illegal border crossing and hostile acts.

South Korea's main spy agency, the National Intelligence Service, said it could not confirm the report.

Backbone of harsh rule
Pyongyang's State Security Department is the backbone of Kim's harsh rule over the totalitarian nation. It keeps a close watch over government agencies, the military and ordinary people for any signs of dissent. It also engages in spy missions abroad.

The move to put Kim Jong Un in charge of the agency illustrates the elder Kim's concern about any possible backlash that the father-to-son succession could prompt, the Dong-a said. It said the North plans to bolster the agency by putting the country's 100,000-strong border-guarding force under its arm.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters that Mats Foyer, Sweden's ambassador in North Korea, visited the reporters — Euna Lee and Laura Ling — in Pyongyang on Tuesday. Sweden serves as the U.S.'s protecting power in North Korea.

Foyer has been in "constant contact" with the North, pressing for access, Kelly said. He said the U.S. was "pursuing many different avenues" to secure their release, but he would not elaborate.

Who will eventually rule the nuclear-armed North has been the focus of intense media speculation since leader Kim, 67, reportedly suffered a stroke last summer. That sparked regional concerns about instability and a possible power struggle if he died without naming a successor.

The succession talk has further intensified after Seoul's spy agency reported to lawmakers early this month that the regime in Pyongyang notified its diplomatic missions and government agencies that Kim Jong Un will be the next leader.

Seoul's JoongAng Ilbo newspaper reported earlier this month that he had been given the title of "Brilliant Comrade," another sign that the regime was preparing to name him as successor.

Japan's Mainichi newspaper reported over the weekend that Jong Un is working as the acting chairman of the nation's National Defense Commission, supporting his father, who is chairman of the commission, the country's highest post.

Kim Jong Il inherited North Korea after his father and founding leader Kim Il Sung died in 1994.

'Victory because the bloodline'
On Tuesday, the North's main Rodong Sinmun newspaper carried a remark by Kim Jong Il that could be seen as a justification of the father-to-son succession.

"Our revolution is winning victory after victory because the bloodline" of the country's self-reliance ideology has been succeeded through generations, Kim was quoted as saying last month.

Kim Jong Il has two other known sons. The eldest one, Jong Nam, 38, was considered the favorite to succeed his father until he was caught trying to enter Japan on a fake passport in 2001, reportedly to visit the Disney resort.

Kim considers the middle son, Jong Chol, 28, too effeminate, according to the leader's former sushi chef.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press

[alfred russel]

You are unconfirmable due to anime.

[jimmy olsen]

You are unconfirmable due to anime.

I'd be very surprised if Kim Jong Un hasn't watched a lot of anime.

[KRonn]

In related news:


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,528880,00.html

North Korea Threatens to 'Wipe Out' U.S.



SEOUL, South Korea —  North Korea threatened Wednesday to wipe the United States off the map as Washington and its allies watched for signs the regime will launch a series of missiles in the coming days.

Off China's coast, a U.S. destroyer was tailing a North Korean ship suspected of transporting illicit weapons to Burma in what could be the first test of U.N. sanctions passed to punish the nation for an underground nuclear test last month.

The Kang Nam left the North Korean port of Nampo a week ago with the USS John S. McCain close behind. The ship, accused of transporting banned goods in the past, is believed bound for Burma, according to South Korean and U.S. officials.

The new U.N. Security Council resolution requires member states to seek permission to inspect suspicious cargo. North Korea has said it would consider interception a declaration of war and on Wednesday accused the U.S. of seeking to provoke another Korean War.

"If the U.S. imperialists start another war, the army and people of Korea will ... wipe out the aggressors on the globe once and for all," the official Korean Central News Agency said.

The warning came on the eve of the 59th anniversary of the start of the three-year Korean War, which ended in a truce in 1953, not a peace treaty, leaving the peninsula in state of war.

The U.S. has 28,500 troops in South Korea to protect against an outbreak of hostilities.

Tensions have been high since North Korea launched a long-range rocket in April and then conducted its second underground atomic test on May 25.

Reacting to U.N. condemnation of that test, North Korea walked away from nuclear disarmament talks and warned it would fire a long-range missile.

North Korea has banned ships from the waters off its east coast starting Thursday through July 10 for military exercises, Japan's Coast Guard said.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported Wednesday that the North may fire a Scud missile with a range of up to 310 miles (500 kilometers) or a short-range ground-to-ship missile with a range of 100 miles (160 kilometers) during the no-sail period.

A senior South Korean government official said the no-sail ban is believed connected to North Korean plans to fire short- or mid-range missiles. He spoke on condition of anonymity, citing department policy.

U.S. defense and counterproliferation officials in Washington said they also expected the North to launch short- to medium-range missiles. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence.

South Korea will expedite the introduction of high-tech unmanned aerial surveillance systems and "bunker-buster" bombs in response to North Korea's provocations, the Chosun Ilbo newspaper said, citing unidentified ruling party members.

Meanwhile, a flurry of diplomatic efforts were under way to try getting North Korea to return to disarmament talks.

Russia's top nuclear envoy, Alexei Borodavkin, said after meeting with his South Korean counterpart that Moscow is open to other formats for discussion since Pyongyang has pulled out of formal six-nation negotiations.

In Beijing, top U.S. and Chinese defense officials also discussed North Korea. U.S. Defense Undersecretary Michele Flournoy was heading next to Tokyo and Seoul for talks.

South Korea has proposed high-level "consultations" to discuss North Korea with the U.S., Russia, China and Japan.

[alfred russel]

You are unconfirmable due to anime.

I'd be very surprised if Kim Jong Un hasn't watched a lot of anime.

If your father was a dictator in a super repressive country, would you have still spent your youth watching anime?

[jimmy olsen]

You are unconfirmable due to anime.

I'd be very surprised if Kim Jong Un hasn't watched a lot of anime.

If your father was a dictator in a super repressive country, would you have still spent your youth watching anime?

He's a dictator with a fetish for kidnapping actors and actress and has one of the largest video collections in the world. All signs point to yes.

[KRonn]

You are unconfirmable due to anime.

I'd be very surprised if Kim Jong Un hasn't watched a lot of anime.

If your father was a dictator in a super repressive country, would you have still spent your youth watching anime?

He's a dictator with a fetish for kidnapping actors and actress and has one of the largest video collections in the world. All signs point to yes.

Well, given that he and his henchmen have the whole slave labor camp type nation thing working for them, he may even feel he's living in a world of anime! 

[Scipio]

I would love it if Obama had a Reagan-esque faux pas, "Five minutes ago, we glassed Pyongyang."

[BuddhaRhubarb]

Wipe Out the US. I think NK needs some geography lessons. It would take a country like Russia to do such a thing, and all it would ensure is that both countries would take  alot of damage. North Korea needs to go away.

[frunk]

Makes me think all the more that Kim Jong is dead or dying.

[alfred russel]

You are unconfirmable due to anime.

I'd be very surprised if Kim Jong Un hasn't watched a lot of anime.

If your father was a dictator in a super repressive country, would you have still spent your youth watching anime?

He's a dictator with a fetish for kidnapping actors and actress and has one of the largest video collections in the world. All signs point to yes.

Anime doesn't have actors or actresses. Signs point back to no.

[jimmy olsen]

You are unconfirmable due to anime.

I'd be very surprised if Kim Jong Un hasn't watched a lot of anime.

If your father was a dictator in a super repressive country, would you have still spent your youth watching anime?

He's a dictator with a fetish for kidnapping actors and actress and has one of the largest video collections in the world. All signs point to yes.

Anime doesn't have actors or actresses. Signs point back to no.

Japanese actors and actresses. If he's interested in Japanese culture he's seen anime.

[HVC]

Lol, an attempted trip to Disneyland cost him total power of a country. Sucks to be Krazy Kim's oldest son.

[alfred russel]

Japanese actors and actresses. If he's interested in Japanese culture he's seen anime.

There is some truth to anime fans being wierd enough to abduct Japanese actors and actresses--I'll give you that.

[Jos Theelen]

Maybe Kim senior is in a hurry.

Seoul (AFP) June 19, 2009
+++++++++++++++++++
A South Korean newspaper said Friday the health of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il is rapidly worsening and Pyongyang is trying to import expensive medical equipment through China. The North is also seeking to bring in an emergency helicopter, the South's largest-selling daily Chosun Ilbo reported. Kim is widely believed to have suffered a stroke last August but there was no confirmation of the latest report. The National Intelligence Service declined to comment. Chosun said Pyongyang's Ponghwa Hospital is treating the 67-year-old. It said officials of the hospital who are based in Beijing are trying to buy medical equipment which has been banned under an embargo imposed in 2006 to punish the North's first nuclear test.