Are we seeing the real KJI at last?
Don Kirk has a brief dispatch in the Christian Science Monitor that questions whether former US President Bill Clinton actually met with Kim Jong-il or his body double. I sincerely … Continue reading
Guidance From the North Country
(n.b. Kim Jong-il’s last appearance was around 22 October at a guidance tour of the 26 September and 22 October Pig Farms) Kim Jong-il and the guidance party did not … Continue reading
The Bozz to Pyongyang, KJI Invited to Beijing
Reuters reported earlier today of a possible trip by DPRK Special Envoy (and Fletcher School Dean) Stephen Bosworth to Pyongyang. Yomiuri Shimbun has a more detailed report about Ambassador Bosworth’s … Continue reading
Habemus Successor? Or Thaek it to the Limit?
Another report has surfaced in the South Korean press that Kim Jong-un is undergoing a “grooming process” (what Medieval Europe royalty would term a “prince’s education”) to succeed his father. … Continue reading
Kim Jong-il’s Love in an Elevator
This is an admittedly trivial posting, but KCNA has a short story about Kim Jong-il’s guidance tour of Pothonggang Shop. Last week I posted that General-Secretary Kim was in a … Continue reading
Kim Jong-un’s First KPA Guidance Tour?
It seems Kim Jong-un (Kim Jong-il’s youngest son and supposed successor) was deflowered in the role of conducting a guidance tour solus. Chosun Ilbo reports that Mr. Kim inspected the … Continue reading
More Succession Scuttlebutt
Last week, Nam Sung-wook, an expert on the DPRK Leadership who is an adviser to South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, gave a lecture in Seoul where he contended that Kim … Continue reading
Guidance Train Kept a-Rollin’ & When RG Met SK
1.) MOFA Director-General for North American Affairs, Ri Gun, met with Six-Party Talks Envoy, Sung Kim, for an hour in New York on Saturday (24 October). The substance of the … Continue reading
North Korea Leadership Watch 