DATE=9/6/98
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
NUMBER=5-41313
TITLE=PROFILE: KIM JONG-IL
BYLINE=ROGER WILKISON
DATELINE=BEIJING
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: NORTH KOREA'S PARLIAMENT HAS RE-ELECTED DE FACTO LEADER
KIM JONG-IL AS HEAD OF THE COMMUNIST COUNTRY'S NATIONAL DEFENSE
COMMISSION -- DESCRIBED AS THE HIGHEST POSITION IN THE STATE.
V-O-A CORRESPONDENT ROGER WILKISON REPORTS THAT -- ALTHOUGH THE
MOVE CONSOLIDATES MR. KIM'S POWER AS HEIR TO HIS LATE FATHER, KIM
IL-SUNG -- LITTLE IS KNOWN ABOUT THE 56-YEAR-OLD NORTH KOREAN
LEADER.
TEXT: KIM IL-SUNG RULED NORTH KOREA FOR 46 YEARS AND GROOMED HIS
ELDEST SON TO TAKE HIS PLACE IN THE COMMUNIST WORLD'S FIRST-EVER
DYNASTIC SUCCESSION. THE YOUNGER MR. KIM WAS NAMED HEAD OF NORTH
KOREA'S POWERFUL MILITARY MACHINE IN 1991 AND -- THREE YEARS
AFTER HIS FATHER'S DEATH IN 1994 -- ASSUMED THE LEADERSHIP OF THE
RULING WORKERS' PARTY.
HE WAS EXPECTED TO BE ELECTED BY THE RUBBER-STAMP PARLIAMENT TO
NORTH KOREA'S PRESIDENCY, SATURDAY. INSTEAD, HE WAS CONFIRMED AS
HEAD OF THE NATIONAL DEFENSE COMMISSION -- A POST WHERE POWER WAS
BOOSTED BY MEANS OF A CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT AND OFFICIALLY
DESCRIBED AS THE RECLUSIVE STATE'S HIGHEST POSITION. DIPLOMATS
WHO FOLLOW NORTH KOREAN AFFAIRS BELIEVE THE PRESIDENCY HAS BEEN
ABOLISHED OR WILL BE LEFT PERMANENTLY VACANT AS A SIGN OF RESPECT
FOR MR. KIM'S LATE FATHER.
ORGANIZATIONS IN SEOUL AND TOKYO THAT MONITOR DEVELOPMENTS IN THE
HERMIT-LIKE COMMUNIST COUNTRY SAY MR. KIM HAS FURTHER
CONSOLIDATED HIS POWER. TOKYO'S RADIOPRESS NEWS AGENCY NOTES 16
OF THE 25 TOP CABINET POSTS ARE HELD BY NEW APPOINTEES. SEOUL'S
SEMI-OFFICIAL NAEWOE PRESS SEES THE ENHANCEMENT OF MR. KIM'S ROLE
AS HEAD OF THE NATIONAL DEFENSE COMMISSION AS A SIGN OF NORTH
KOREA'S GROWING EMPHASIS ON THE MILITARY AS THE BACKBONE OF THE
STATE.
DESPITE A RELENTLESS PROPAGANDA BARRAGE BY NORTH KOREA'S OFFICIAL
MEDIA STRESSING SELF-RELIANCE, THE COUNTRY HAS BEEN FORCED TO
SEEK INTERNATIONAL HANDOUTS BY THREE YEARS OF FOOD SHORTAGES THAT
-- BY SOME ESTIMATES -- HAVE CAUSED THE DEATHS OF AT LEAST ONE
MILLION PEOPLE.
THE ECONOMIC SITUATION IS BELIEVED TO BE GETTING WORSE, WITH
OUTPUT FALLING AND CASH RESERVES DWINDLING. STILL, NORTH KOREA
HAS THE WORLD'S FIFTH-LARGEST MILITARY APPARATUS. DESPITE A 1994
DEAL WITH WASHINGTON TO FREEZE AND ULTIMATELY DISMANTLE ITS
NUCLEAR PROGRAM, THERE ARE STILL SUSPICIONS ABOUT ITS INTENTIONS.
THE TEST-FIRING OVER JAPAN, LAST MONDAY OF A BALLISTIC MISSILE
--WHICH NORTH KOREA SAYS WAS USED TO PUT A SATELLITE INTO ORBIT--
IS SEEN AS A WORRISOME INCREASE IN PYONGYANG'S MILITARY
CAPABILITIES.
KIM JONG-IL APPEARS TO BE AS MYSTERIOUS AND UNPREDICTABLE AS HIS
COUNTRY. DESCRIBED BY PEOPLE WHO HAVE SEEN HIM AS SHORT, PUDGY
AND BESPECTACLED, WITH AN EXAGGERATED POMPADOUR HAIRCUT, HE IS
RARELY PHOTOGRAPHED AND HIS VOICE IS ALMOST NEVER BROADCAST.
HE HAS MADE ONLY A FEW KNOWN FOREIGN TRIPS TO COMMUNIST COUNTRIES
-- ALL OF THEM CLOAKED IN SECRECY. ALTHOUGH THE NORTH KOREAN
MEDIA HAILS HIM AS A RENAISSANCE MAN WHO FLIES FIGHTER PLANES AND
WRITES OPERAS, WESTERN, JAPANESE AND SOUTH KOREAN ANALYSTS
BELIEVE THERE IS A MORE SINISTER SIDE TO HIM. THEY SUSPECT HE
MASTERMINDED A 1983 TERRORIST BOMBING IN BURMA THAT KILLED 17
HIGH-RANKING SOUTH KOREAN OFFICIALS AND THE 1987 BOMBING OF A
SOUTH KOREAN AIRLINER THAT KILLED ALL 115 PEOPLE ABOARD. (SIGNED)
NEB / WD / WD
06-Sep-98 3:34 AM EDT (0734 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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