Family Values

"just being strong for all of us the way Papa was..."

While the world frets over North Korea's nuclear ambitions, angry doc actually find the whole episode rather heart-warming in the light of this news story:

North Korea's Kim picks third son as successor

SEOUL : South Korea's main spy agency believes North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il has designated his third and youngest son, Jong-un, as his successor, a lawmaker said.

The South's National Intelligence Service (NIS) informed a closed parliamentary hearing on Monday of the development, Park Jie-Won of the main opposition Democratic Party said in an SBS radio interview.

"I was notified by the government (Monday) that there are such movements, and that (North Koreans) are making pledges of loyalty to Kim Jong-Un," he said.

According to South Korean media reports, Kim is understood to have informed his military, parliament and diplomats abroad of the nomination shortly after the communist North's second nuclear test on May 25.

The NIS and other officials declined to confirm the reports.

"Our ministry has yet to confirm the nomination of Kim Jung-Un as successor," Chun Hae-Sung, spokesman for the unification ministry in charge of inter-Korean affairs, told reporters.

The succession is a subject of intense interest, notably after South Korean and US officials said Kim Jong-Il, 67, suffered a stroke in August last year. He is thought to have since recovered and resumed most of his duties.

Quoting well-informed sources, the Dong-a daily said North Koreans were being taught new songs apparently aimed at instilling loyalty to the next leader, addressing Jong-Un as "General Kim."

Yonhap first reported in January that Kim Jong-Il had nominated Jong-Un as his successor and informed the ruling communist party leadership of his choice but there has been no official announcement from the North.

Jong-Un was born to the leader's third wife, Ko Yong-Hi, who reportedly died of breast cancer in 2004. He was educated at an international school in Switzerland. It is not known whether he holds any official post.

Kim's eldest son -- Jong-Nam, 37, who was born to a different mother -- apparently spoiled his prospects as leader after being deported from Japan in 2001 for trying to enter the country with a forged passport.

Some analysts have seen his second son, 27-year-old Kim Jong-Chul, as the favourite to take over.

But Kenji Fujimoto, a former Japanese sushi chef for the North Korean leader, has said in a memoir that Kim thought of Jong-Chul as too feminine and unfit for leadership.

He described Jong-Un as a "chip off the old block, a spitting image of his father in terms of face, body shape and personality."

- AFP

angry doc believes that if you look beyond all the communist ideology (who believes in that these days anyway?) and the realpolitiks, the whole nuclear thing is just about, to paraphrase Connie Corleone, "papa being strong for all of us" and Kim Jong Il wanting his son to have the power to protect the family, just as his father had wanted his son to. How can anyone fault someone who values family so much?

Once again, "The Godfather" answers all of life's questions...