Kim Jong Il’s Son, Possible Successor, Isn’t Named as Lawmaker
March 10 (Bloomberg) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong Il’s third son, who is reportedly being groomed to become the reclusive country’s next leader, wasn’t included in the list of newly elected lawmakers.
Kim Jong Un, 26, didn’t appear on the list of 687 members of the Supreme People’s Assembly the official Korea Central News Agency released late yesterday. Kim Jong Il, 67, was re-elected in the parliamentary elections held on March 8.
South Korea’s Yonhap News reported the day before the vote that Kim Jong Il may bring his son into parliament, taking him a step closer to succeeding him. Kim Jong Il officially took power three years after his father, Kim Il Sung, died in 1994.
Candidates for the assembly, the country’s highest legislative body, are nominated by the government or the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea and one person runs for each seat.
Kim Jong Un may receive lessons from next month to prepare to take over, Yonhap reported late yesterday, citing unidentified people in Beijing knowledgeable about North Korea.
The assembly’s five-year term ended last year and the elections were postponed amid reports from U.S. and South Korean intelligence officials Kim Jong Il suffered a stroke in August.
The new assembly is expected to re-elect Kim Jong Il as chairman of the National Defense Commission, which controls the communist state’s 1.1 million-strong military. He is also general secretary of the Workers’ Party.
To contact the reporter on this story: Heejin Koo in Seoul at hjkoo@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Bill Austin in Tokyo at billaustin@bloomberg.net; Paul Tighe at ptighe@bloomberg.net.
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