Thread by @michaelmalice

OK Kim Jong Un sucession master thread
Here is what you need to know

north Korea has a Constitution but it is for display purposes only
if there is any governing legal document concerning the succession it would be the Ten Commandments of the Great Leader Kim Il Sung

Kim Il Sung is the founder of the DPRK and revered as pretty much the greatest man who ever lived
Kim Jong Un's haircut is throwback to emulate that of his grandfather

north Korea is big on honorifics. So it will be General Kim Il Sung or The Great Leader Kim Il Sung. His wife, Kim Jong Suk, is Kim Jong Il's mother. She is mostly referred to as anti-Japanese heroine Kim Jong Suk and usually depicted with a gun in hand

She is known for her marksmanship and according to the mythology she worked closely with the Great Leader during the years of anti-Japanese struggle, meaning the period when Korea ("Korea is one!") was a Japanese colony

The hatred of north Koreans toward the Japanese cannot be overstated and surpasses that toward Americans. I was welcomed warmly there, I doubt a Japanese person would be.

The legend is that General Kim Il Sung's guerrillas drove the "wicked Jap devils" out of Korea. The Japanese are always referred to by slurs. (FUN FACT: When I was discussing this on @greggutfeld even with air quotes they bleeped me.)

So what we think of WW II they are told was the victory of General Kim Il Sung over Japan. His guerrillas had a secret base camp at the foot of Mount Peakdu, at the north of Korea. Mt Paekdu has mystical qualities ascribed to it.

Kim Jong Il was born in Russia but north Korea mythology says he was born at this base camp.
Though the terms are slightly loose, Kim Il Sung is the Great Leader and Kim Jong Il is the Dear Leader. Apparently the words "leader" are different ones for each in Korean.

Korea is the most racially pure and was the first government on earth. The US Imperialists had long had their designs on Korea, starting with the mid 1800s when USS General Sherman was sent there--and the Americans killed and the ship sunk (this part is true!)

After the Pacific War, the yank devils set up a military beachhead in the southern half of the country. Korea being indivisible, they write it as north and South Korea since they are regions and not really separate countries.

Then the US Imperialists started the Korean War, or as they call it the Fatherland Liberation War. After years of struggle General Kim Il Sung defeated the yank devils and handed them their first loss in history. They've been plotting for revenge ever since.

The question of successorship was decreasingly discussed in north Korea as the decades moved on and Kim Il Sung consolidated power. When one party dignitary broached the subject he was banished.

In the mid 70s "the party center" gained prominence in the media. This was Kim Jong Il but he was not referred to by name. After some twists and turns he was officially declared the official successor. Hereditary leadership sent shock waves through the second world.

North Korea in their literature covers all foreign criticism and they address this issue head on. By the time the Great Leader Kim Il Sung died in 1994 Kim Jong Il had basically been running things for quite some time.

The footage of the people hysterical when he died was all real. Imagine if the only leader your country had for 50 years, who was the source of everything, died. The grief was understandable.

As Kim Jong Il took power, the famine hit. the north Korean government refused aid for various reasons and committed a genocide by starvation. Food was sent first to the most politically loyal. The government effectively collapsed. they even had polio return.

It was not at all clear the Kim Jong Il could maintain his hold on power but he pulled it off with millions of deaths to his name as the price. He launched a "let's eat two meals a day!" campaign and said it's a good thing there wasn't food, three meals is unhealthy.

Other than his sister Kim Kyong Hui the rest of the Kim family is not really discussed in the DPRK. It's like asking who Uncle Sam's nieces and nephews are.

When Kim Jong Un was publicly unveiled this was a huge deal. To this day it's not 100% how many wives and/or children Jong Il had. This is the 10th Commandment of the Great Leader. This means only someone from the "Mt Paektu bloodline" (i.e., a descendant of Kim Il Sung) can lead

He had at least three boys. The eldest, Kim Jong Nam, had been passed over for various reasons. He would have been an obvious replacement for Kim Jong Un--hence why he was assassinated. The middle Kim Jong Chol is a "sissy" who is not interested.

The people in power are there because of their loyalty to the leader, period. Kim Jong Il's sister drove her daughter to suicide and she was behind the murder of Kim Jong Un's "uncle" (actually her husband).

The possibility that Kim Jong Un's sister would take over is a common theory among people who can't name one single other person in the north Korea leadership. The culture is extremely patriarchal.
The answer is: No one knows and there are no legal clues or precedent.

I covered everything you need to know about north Korea in my book Dear Reader. This has been a decades-long process by the Kim family. It is a unique country with similarities to others but very much its own thing.

amazon.com/Dear-Reader-Un…

Our hearts must go out to the north Korean people in all this. They are ones who are enslaved prisoners. Hope for their peaceful liberation.

me in Pyongyang next to the giant statues of the leaders