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Japanese tabloids and prime time current affairs shows have an obsession about who will succeed Kim Jong Il. They interview ex-chefs, drivers, purported pleasure troupe dancers and even chase plumpish Asian guys with glasses and Gucci jackets down the streets of Macao, asking them in Japanese-accented Korean if their father is Kim Jong-Il…
But for all their extremes, Japanese tabloid TV has got one thing right. Succession will be the biggest event in Korean peninsula affairs for a long time - and its an inevitable event. An event which will have an enormous impact on Korean unification.
Kim Jong-Il is 63, he is reported to suffer from diabetes and high blood pressure, which can lead to kidney and heart complications (OK this mostly comes from Japanese tabloid magazines too). Unlike his father he has not lived the hardened life of a freedom fighter in his younger years, but rather has led a rather closeted and protected existence. That’s not to say he is going anywhere soon. His father lived, and ruled, until the ripe old age of 82.
How will a post Kim Jong-Il approach to unification look? Will there be a greater chance of unification, or sadly as I suspect, much less chance of unification, albeit a richer, more stable and reform oriented (and Chinese influenced) North Korea?
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3 responses so far ↓
1 JurgenD // Aug 21, 2007 at 7:07 pm
I think you may be wrong on the effect on unification. There is much nationalism in South Korea that would not allow China to exert too much influence over the North.
2 Mr Yee // Aug 23, 2007 at 2:56 pm
Ha Ha Ha - I better not go to Macau!!!
3 Janus // Aug 24, 2007 at 12:58 pm
I don’t think it’s going to be South Korea’s choice…the Chinese, unlike the Americans, don’t lose sleep at night worrying if the Koreans love them or not. The only things the PRC will listen to are economic power and military power–both of which simply affirm Korea’s status as the “shrimp among whales.”
Not to say SK was destined to be this way. South Korea could have made a credible economic and military threat to the PRC were it backed up by a solid alliance with the United States…but Roh & the sunshine boys have destroyed that relationship in the name of “independence” which in great a great karmic bird poop on Roh’s head has only left Korea more dependent than ever–only now on a neighbor that is not burdened by any history or moral precept of playing nice…
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