Word: kim
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...only are strange things happening in Pyongyang, but things that should be happening are not. Kim Jong Il, North Korea's newly promoted Great Leader, has not appeared in public since his father's funeral on July 20. On that occasion he stood by, pale and puffy, as others spoke. Since then he has not said a word to his 22 million subjects. He has not met with representatives of any other country. And he has not been officially installed as President or as General Secretary of the communist Workers' Party -- positions held by Kim Il Sung at his death...
Though the thoroughly Stalinist North Korea does not actually have a Kremlin, outside experts find themselves employing the oblique methods once used to evaluate Soviet politics to plumb the oddities in Pyongyang. Who is standing next to whom? What are the editorials hinting? Is Kim the successful successor or under challenge? These are not mere academic concerns when the U.S. needs to get on with talks about curbing North Korea's atom-bomb program...
Speculation about Kim's future has grown rapidly over recent days. First, anti-Kim Jong Il leaflets appeared around the diplomatic quarter in well- policed Pyongyang. Then an official radio broadcast ostensibly supported Kim's succession as the national leader but may have dropped a hint of a possible power struggle. If the succession "failed to be resolved correctly," it warned, "acts of betrayal by ambitious people" could bring disaster to the party and the revolution. Finally, Japanese press reports said Kim had turned down an invitation to Beijing...
...Pyongyang would be "conditional on an overall agreement" on North Korea's nuclear program, and the White House soft-pedaled its announcement today. While the Pongyang meeting goes on, nuclear experts from both countries will also meet in Berlin.KIM JONG'S NOT ILL? Don't believe rumors that Kim Jong Il -- the seldom-seen heir apparent to the late Kim Il Sung as North Korean head of state -- is sick or out of political favor, his stepbrother advises. South Korean newspapers, whose own government amplified the rumors, quoted younger sibling Kim Pyong Il as saying his brother would assume power...
...North Korea agreed to resume talks over Pyongyang's nuclear program Sept. 23. At the top of the agenda: Mounting rumors, amplified by South Korea, that Kim Jong Il faces internal and external problems in succeeding the late Kim Il Sung as head of state. He hasn't been seen in public since his father's funeral on July 20. But things may settle down: Both South Korea's spy chief and its ambassador to Washington reversed course today, saying they thought the big-haired playboy was in full control...