Kim Jong-il begins secret conference in North Korea, or does he?
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A veil of secrecy enshrouds the deliberations of delegates to a conference of the ruling Workers鈥 Party in Pyongyang that just about everyone except the North Koreans is saying has to do with to third son Kim Jong-un.
So secret is the gathering that it鈥檚 not even certain the delegates are yet meeting. All that鈥檚 known for sure is that billboard-size posters have gone up in the North Korean capital extolling the 鈥渇estive event鈥 as one of 鈥渉istoric鈥 importance.
Amid the speculation as to what the conference, the first since 1966, is about, is the possibility that it will produce nothing quite definable as 鈥渘ews.鈥 Rather, it may be a chance for Kim Jong-il to engineer power shifts within the party in order to ensure his son鈥檚 ascent to heights for which he may not be prepared.
A reshuffle?
That鈥檚 pretty much the view of Andrei Lankov, a Russian who studied in Pyongyang years ago and now teaches at Kookmin University in Seoul, South Korea. In the two previous conferences of the Workers鈥 Party, in 1958 and 1966, he has written, the purpose was 鈥渢o formalize the results of severe purges in the top leadership and 鈥榚lect鈥 new leaders, free from 鈥榰nmasked anti-party enemies.鈥 鈥
In other words, Kim Jong-il may believe that housecleaning is needed to persuade possibly recalcitrant military people that son Jong-un, in his late 20s, is the man for the top job. Mr. Kim dominates such military people as chairman of the National Defense Commission, the country's real center of power.
Yoo Ho-yul, a professor at Korea University in Seoul, more or less agrees. As , a South Korean website that regularly reports on the North, Mr. Yoo believes 鈥渃ore organs of the party such as the politburo, secretariat, and central military commission will be reshuffled with personnel who can support the Kim Jong-un succession structure.鈥
Lee Gi-dong, talking at the same seminar with Yoo, subscribes to a growing view that Kim Jong-un will not show his face at the conference. 鈥淚t is too early to publicize his existence because his revolutionary achievements are insufficient,鈥 Daily NK quoted him as saying.
Speculation 鈥 including over gifts for delegates
There is plenty of speculation, though, about what Kim Jong-un is doing at the conference. , which broadcasts by short-wave into the North for two hours a day and often picks up news from informants in the North via cellphone, has said he鈥檚 鈥渄irecting all the preparations for the party delegates鈥 meeting,鈥 down to such details as 鈥済ifts for delegates and accommodations.鈥
The young man, according to , has assumed greater importance in conference planning than Kim Jong-il鈥檚 brother-in-law, Jang Song-thaek, widely seen as the country鈥檚 second most powerful figure. Jang, says Open Radio, is responsible only for 鈥渟ecurity鈥 鈥 not a small role but not center stage.
Open Radio notes that Kim Jong-il was in charge of preparations for the Workers鈥 Party鈥檚 last congress in 1980 鈥 a much grander affair than a conference. The party congress, like the delegates鈥 conference, was seen as an important step on Kim Jong-il鈥檚 way to power after the death of his father, Kim Il-sung, in 1994.