It’s very hard to know what’s really going in North Korea. If reports this week are credible, supreme leader Kim Jong-un is in dire condition following surgery. That could prove false tomorrow. Either way, it raises the question of who would take control of the nuclear-armed nation of 25 million should he surprise the world and abruptly pass away.

Earlier this week, an unconfirmed report from Daily NK, a Seoul-based website, said the North Korean leader had undergone heart surgery and was recuperating at a villa outside the capital Pyongyang. Then CNN, citing an unnamed American official, reported that the US was “monitoring intelligence” that the supreme leader was in “grave danger.” Fueling speculation, Kim did something unheard of by skipping an April 15 commemoration of the birthday of Kim Il-sung, his grandfather and North Korea’s founder. And state media has been mum about his whereabouts, unusual considering it typically plasters his image everywhere, even if he’s just touring a lubricant factory.

South Korea said it couldn’t confirm reports of Kim undergoing surgery, and China dismissed them.

So, who would take over should he actually pass away? Considering North Korea has been ruled by the same family for seven decades, chances are good a Kim will be involved.

The possibility of his sister, Kim Yo-jong, inheriting power is “more than 90%,” said Cheong Seong-chang, an analyst at the Sejong Institute in South Korea, as reported by the Associated Press. She has “royal blood,” he noted, and “North Korea is like a dynasty.” In recent years she’s also accompanied her brother on high-profile meetings with world leaders including US president Donald Trump, prompting some observers to consider her North Korea’s No. 2 official.

Others see the macho culture of North Korea’s regime as a barrier to her assuming power. “The male-dominated, patriarchal leadership structure all but rules out Kim Yo Jong… as a potential successor,” Bloomberg wrote in 2017.


Traditional armed conflict is giving way to a shadowy “gray zone,” somewhere between war and peace. Behind the shift are new technologies, a cascade of data and information, robots, space—and the need to avoid a nuclear apocalypse.

That same year, the supreme leader’s older, estranged half-brother Kim Jong-nam, who’d been living in Macau, was killed in a Kuala Lumpur airport via nerve agent. He’d known he was a target, and in an earlier letter had begged his younger brother—who viewed him as a potential threat—to spare his life.

Kim Jong-un does have another brother, Kim Jong-chol, who is also older. But it’s widely believed he has no interest in politics or public life, and he was deemed by his father, the late Kim Jong-il, as too “girlish” to wield power. He’s apparently a talented guitar player and was spotted at an Eric Clapton concert five years ago. Few think he’d be thrust into a leadership position, but the fact remains he has royal blood and is male, so some role could be in store for him.

Kim Jong-un does have some children, but they are not old enough to assume power.

He also has an uncle, 65-year-old Kim Pyong-il, who reportedly returned to North Korea last November after serving as diplomat in Europe for decades. But he’s been outside the circles of power for some time. Another uncle, Jang Song-thaek, once one of the nation’s most powerful men, was charged with treason and executed in December 2013, two years after Kim Jong Un took control (and another threat gone).

Outside the family, there’s Choe Ryong-hae, who last year became president of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly, making him the nominal head of state. He’s served the ruling family for decades, but of course he lacks the all-important bloodline.

What might emerge, then, is a collective leadership incorporating both royal family members and a loyal senior figures. In this arrangement Kim Yo-jong would likely be a major force, despite her gender, while Choe and others like him would serve as figureheads.

Some fear a power struggle could break out. Were that to happen, it could lead to instability that proves dangerous to the region, with nuclear weapons falling into unknown hands and potentially a massive wave of refugees streaming toward China.

But again, at this point all of this is based on Kim Jong-un, who is still in his mid-30s and presumably in excellent hands, actually dying sometime soon. If he proves to be in better physical condition than thought, he could very well survive and stay in power until the 2070s, watching Western leaders come and go as he continues to rule his nation with an iron first, improve his nuclear arsenal, and groom his male offspring to take his place in good time.

.

Little rocket man

that wicked beast called leader

Funny or crazy enough I like that man, avoiding the western and eastern countries will be best for Africa. Self-preservation

Oshiomhole and APC would produce their next Leaders.

Nothing lasts forever

Davash222:
Oshiomhole and APC would produce their next Leaders.

. I dey tell u, we dey naija. Person carry korea news for head. Ask them over there whats the capital of Nigeria, dey dont care.
Make we begin mind our business

no matter what, the next leader won't be as dangerous as this

valirex:
Funny or crazy enough I like that man, avoiding the western and eastern countries will be best for Africa. Self-preservation

I like Kim too, but If not for China's CCECC (Eastern Country), your Lagos-Ibadan & Kaduna-Abuja standard gauge railway would only become a reality - maybe by the year 2080.

If not for Mother Russia (Another Eastern Country) that sold your useless & tyrannical government scores of MI-35 Gunships, trust me, Boko Haram & ISWAP would be giving directives from their new Caliphates in Maitama & Asokoro by now.

Now, mention one thing the Amerikan & British bastards have ever done to advance the cause of Nigeria in the past 50years?

They gave you Boko Haram & ISWAP to destabilize your Country.

They flew in Patrick Sawyer to baptize you with Ebola.

They shut their borders against you via Travel Ban.

They are punishing you for rejecting & prohibiting their treasured statute - LGBT.

They steal your natural resources with impunity.

They have partially taken over your food production (no thanks to Bill Gates's Mosanto & saboteurs like the IITA) via GMOs (agricultural seed distribution to your farmers) just to kill you & cut your population.

They sold you over-inflated flying metal scraps to your government (Super Tucano) just to show you how much they love you.

They portray you as monkeys, hyperactive mentally sex-crazed criminals in their mainstream media while their racist & mass-shooting psychos are pampered like celebrities.

Yet, our vacuous people still worship these bastards and even spend their money in traveling to their lands for proper enslavement.

His sister is the only viable person to take over. His kids are still in elementary school and he also has another child who isn't even up to a year old yet.

The government is a family business in North Korea so his sister is the only viable person from the Kim's lineage and if she is not ready to lead the kingdom they have apparatchiks within the politburo who can do that.

Zoharariel:


I like Kim too, but If not for China's CCECC (Eastern Country), your Lagos-Ibadan & Kaduna-Abuja standard gauge railway would only become a reality - maybe by the year 2080.

If not for Mother Russia (Another Eastern Country) that sold your useless & tyrannical government scores of MI-35 Gunships, trust me, Boko Haram & ISWAP would be giving directives from their new Caliphates in Maitama & Asokoro by now.

Now, mention one thing the Amerikan & British bastards have ever done to advance the cause of Nigeria in the past 50years?

They gave you Boko Haram & ISWAP to destabilize your Country.

They flew in Patrick Sawyer to baptize you with Ebola.

They shut their borders against you via Travel Ban.

They are punishing you for rejecting & prohibiting their treasured statute - LGBT.

They steal your natural resources with impunity.

They have partially taken over your food production (no thanks to Bill Gates's Mosanto & saboteurs like the IITA) via GMOs (agricultural seed distribution to your farmers) just to kill you & cut your population.

They sold you over-inflated flying metal scraps to your government (Super Tucano) just to show you how much they love you.

They portray you as monkeys, hyperactive mentally sex-crazed criminals in their mainstream media while their racist & mass-shooting psychos are pampered like celebrities.

Yet, our vacuous people still worship these bastards and even spend their money in traveling to their lands for proper enslavement.

Bros abeg I dey serious open thread on this your wisdom and tag me. You are very vast in knowledge bro, but we still have to avoid them all. Self-preservation should be our slogan. We can develop this things you mentioned if the monkeys in the government simply invest in homemade technology

the heart of the king is in the hands of the Lord'

Zoharariel:


I like Kim too, but If not for China's CCECC (Eastern Country), your Lagos-Ibadan & Kaduna-Abuja standard gauge railway would only become a reality - maybe by the year 2080.

If not for Mother Russia (Another Eastern Country) that sold your useless & tyrannical government scores of MI-35 Gunships, trust me, Boko Haram & ISWAP would be giving directives from their new Caliphates in Maitama & Asokoro by now.

Now, mention one thing the Amerikan & British bastards have ever done to advance the cause of Nigeria in the past 50years?

They gave you Boko Haram & ISWAP to destabilize your Country.

They flew in Patrick Sawyer to baptize you with Ebola.

They shut their borders against you via Travel Ban.

They are punishing you for rejecting & prohibiting their treasured statute - LGBT.

They steal your natural resources with impunity.

They have partially taken over your food production (no thanks to Bill Gates's Mosanto & saboteurs like the IITA) via GMOs (agricultural seed distribution to your farmers) just to kill you & cut your population.

They sold you over-inflated flying metal scraps to your government (Super Tucano) just to show you how much they love you.

They portray you as monkeys, hyperactive mentally sex-crazed criminals in their mainstream media while their racist & mass-shooting psychos are pampered like celebrities.

Yet, our vacuous people still worship these bastards and even spend their money in traveling to their lands for proper enslavement.

You forgot to mention How China is maltreating Nigerians and other Africans countries in China, Oh! Sorry is a Western and Israeli propaganda.