SEOUL (Reuters) - The death of a North Korean military official and the naming of leader-in-waiting Kim Jong-un to the funeral preparation committee was jumped on by South Korean media Monday as showing he had risen to second-in-command.
In the opaque world of North Korea, experts are forced to dissect and analyse every snippet of information -- sometimes reading between the lines, or words -- in search of the truth.
South Korean media concluded that by being named immediately after leader Kim Jong-il to the funeral committee by the North’s state-run news agency KCNA, the leader’s third son had been elevated to the second highest position in the secretive state.
The young Kim, known only to be in his mid to late 20s, was identified as heir apparent in September when appointed to senior political and military posts in the isolated state.
Then, he was named sixth after his father and other officials in a list of dignitaries participating at the ruling Workers’ Party conference.
The latest sequence -- placing Kim ahead of the cabinet premier, the chief of general staff and the defence minister -- is the clearest signal yet that he is officially in line to take over from his ailing 68-year-old father, the South’s Yonhap news agency reported.
The Chosun Ilbo daily quoted a North Korean source as saying the heir apparent had probably already been promoted to the posts left vacant by the late Jo Myong-rok, or will assume them as soon as the mourning period ends.
KCNA reported that Jo, the first vice-chairman of the North’s National Defence Commission and a close Kim confidant, died Saturday of chronic heart disease at the age of 82.
Jo, whose health has been in decline since 2006, is best remembered for his visit to the United States in 2000 when he met then President Bill Clinton.
Reporting by Jeremy Laurence; Editing by Robert Birsel