NORTH KOREA: POWER TRANSFER

NORTH KOREA: READING THE RUNES OF POWER TRANSFER IN FULL FLOW

Historic party conference in Pyongyang may anoint Kim Jong-il's son as heir, but it's unclear if this is a probation period

Justin McCurry

The Guardian, September 28, 2010

The political parlour game of dissecting the arcane language of Stalinist idolatry was in full flow as North Korea watchers waited for further signs of fundamental change in the regime's secretive leadership, following the elevation of Kim Jong-il's son to general.

Reports say cadres from across the country have already begun approving senior appointments to the ruling Korean Workers' party, which is meeting for the first time in 30 years at the Mansudae Assembly Hall in the capital, Pyongyang.

The congress, twice postponed because of reported concerns for the health of the regime's leader, Kim Jong-il, takes place against a backdrop of economic failure and uncertainty over the future of a state thought to possess enough fissile material to build at least a dozen nuclear weapons.

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