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Power struggle rages in North Korean regime

A fierce battle is being waged behind the scenes for control of North Korea as Kim Jong-il prepares to anoint his successor, it has emerged.

By Malcolm Moore in Shanghai
Published: 9:00PM BST 24 Sep 2010



Kim Jong-il Photo: REUTERS

Factional in-fighting has broken out between Chang Song-taek, the rogue state's second-in-command, and a group of senior reform-minded officials, according to a source who has recently met people at the highest levels of the North Korean government. The battle between the two sides comes as Kim Jong-il, the 68-year-old "Dear Leader", is in frail health and no concrete succession plan has yet to emerge.

Chang, 64, is married to Kim's sister and "always believed the crown would be his [one day]", according to the source. His ambition may yet be fulfilled, since many observers believe he could take charge of North Korea as a regent while Kim's third son, the 28-year-old Kim Jong-un, gains experience. However, Chang has recently seen his hardline views being challenged by a group of reformists, bent on opening up the North Korean economy to Chinese-style capitalism.

"There are normal people who know which direction they have to go in," said the source, who was approached by top North Korean officials and asked to invest in the country. "The government does want to open up, and the only thing stopping them from doing so is Chang," he added. The split in the Workers' Party, which echoes the division in the Chinese Communist party between hardliners and reformists during the 1970s and 1980s, may have prompted the recent two-week delay of the first party conference for nearly 45 years.

The conference is now due to begin next week. The in-fighting could also explain Moscow's bleak assessment of relations between North and South Korea, with Alexei Borodavkin, the deputy foreign minister, saying on Thursday: "Tensions on the Korean Peninsula could not be any higher. The only next step is a conflict." The views of the army high command could be critical in the struggle in North Korea and the source said Mr Chang had recently been attempting to bolster his support in that area.

"The army has to throw its lot in [with one of the groups] and I don't think it has made its mind up yet," he said. Meanwhile, the reformists have been bolstered by the return of Pak Pong Ju, the 71-year-old former North Korean premier who previously advocated economic liberalisation. Kim Yong Hyun, a professor of North Korean studies at Dongguk University in Seoul, said: "More people may be thinking that they don't have a choice but to use more flexible policies to fix the economy. Pak may have been seen as the hands-on person to fix its problems."

Aidan Foster Carter, a North Korean specialist and honorary senior research fellow at Leeds University said: "There is politics in North Korea, with at least three crucial issues: divisions over policy, foreign alignments such as whether to lean towards China, and sheer power struggles." Meanwhile, the source said he felt that Kim Jong-un, with China's support, would eventually be appointed to lead the country. "North Korea does not want to be economically-dependent on China, and they want to break the umbilical cord, but Beijing has groomed Kim Jong-un, so it will be hard," he said.