North Korea Vows No Change Despite New Leadership

The Associated Press

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) -- North Korea is calling Kim Jong Un "Great Leader" as it hands another of Kim Jong Il's titles to his son and heir.

The powerful National Defense Commission on Friday said the country is "uniting around Great Leader comrade Kim Jong Un."

The commission also warned rival South Korea and the rest of the world not to expect any change after Kim Jong Il's death. The tough message comes as Kim's young son strengthens his position as supreme leader.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) - North Korea warned rival South Korea and the rest of the world Friday not to expect any change after Kim Jong Il's death, sending a tough message as Kim's young son strengthened his position as supreme leader.

North Korea's powerful National Defense Commission said that the country would never deal with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, a conservative who stopped a no-strings-attached aid policy toward the North in 2008, and that it would unite around new leader Kim Jong Un.

The stern message came a day after North Korea ended official mourning for Kim Jong Il and declared Kim Jong Un supreme leader of the ruling party and military at a massive public memorial for the elder Kim. The top levels of government have unified around Kim Jong Un, who is in late 20s, in the wake of his father's death Dec. 17.

"We declare solemnly and confidently that the foolish politicians around the world, including the puppet group in South Korea, should not expect any change from us," the National Defense Commission said in a statement. "We will never deal with the traitor group of Lee Myung-bak."

The commission said the "evil misdeeds" of the Lee administration reached a peak when it prevented South Koreans from visiting North Korea to pay respects to Kim Jong Il, except for two delegations led by a former first lady and a business leader, both of whose husbands had ties to North Korea.

The North's statement is a warning for Seoul not to take the new leadership lightly, said Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korea expert at Seoul's Dongguk University.

"It is also raising the stakes in case the South wants better relations so Pyongyang can extract greater concessions" during any later talks, Koh said. He added that it's "too early to say the North is dashing hopes for reforms."

Indeed, the North, while blasting the South's leader, offered a bit of hope for improved ties with the South, saying it "will continue to push hard toward the path of improved relations."

But it added that any better ties won't be "based on the deceitful ploys South Korea is employing by mixing 'toughness' and 'flexibility.'" Seoul has signaled a change in its approach toward Pyongyang in recent months, saying it will be more flexible in dealing with the North.

On Thursday, a somber Kim Jong Un, dubbed the Great Successor, stood with his head bowed at the Grand People's Study House, overlooking Kim Il Sung Square, named for his grandfather who founded modern North Korea. A sea of mourners gathered below.

"Respected Comrade Kim Jong Un is our party, military and country's supreme leader who inherits great comrade Kim Jong Il's ideology, leadership, character, virtues, grit and courage," Kim Yong Nam, considered North Korea's ceremonial head of state, said in a speech.

Kim Jong Un was flanked by top party and military officials, including Kim Jong Il's younger sister, Kim Kyong Hui, and her husband, Jang Song Thaek, who are expected to serve as mentors of their young nephew.

"The father's plan is being implemented," Ralph Cossa, president of Pacific Forum CSIS, a Hawaii-based think tank, said of the transfer of power. "All of these guys have a vested interest in the system and a vested interest in demonstrating stability. The last thing they want to do is create havoc."

Still, given Kim Jong Un's inexperience and age, there are questions outside North Korea about whether he is equipped to lead a nation engaged in long-stalled negotiations over its nuclear program and grappling with decades of economic hardship and chronic food shortages.

But support among North Korea's power brokers was clear at the memorial service, which was attended by hundreds of thousands of people filling Kim Il Sung Square and other plazas in central Pyongyang.

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Associated Press Korea bureau chief Jean H. Lee and writers Hyung-jin Kim, Foster Klug, Scott McDonald and Sam Kim in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report. Follow AP's North Korea coverage at twitter.com/newsjean, twitter.com/APklug and twitter.com/samkim_ap.

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Comments

[Robert Lee Harrington]

10:10 AM on 01/01/2012

"...His eldest half-brother, Kim Jong-nam, had been the favorite to succeed, but reportedly fell out of favor after 2001, when he was caught attempting to enter Japan on a fake passport to visit Tokyo Disneyland...

... analysts had predicted that when Kim Jong-il died, Jang Sung-taek would act as regent, as Jong-un is too inexperienced... . On 25 December 2011, North Korean television showed Jang Sung-taek in the uniform of a general in a sign of his growing sway after the death of Kim Jong-il.,,, His appearance suggests that Jang has secured a key role in the North's powerful military, which has pledged its allegiance to Kim Jong-un

"...Jang Sung-taek, (born 2 February 1946...) is a North Korean politician and the uncle of Kim Jong-un, the Supreme Leader of North Korea.... South Korean government officials and academic North Korea watchers suggested that he may have taken on de facto leadership over North Korea due to Kim Jong-il's ailing health, and later death. Jang is currently... second only to that of the Supreme Leader. He is a four star general and is thought to have been promoted to that position around the time of Kim Jong-il's death as his first appearance in uniform was while visiting Kim's lying in state.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jang_Sung-taek

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Jong-un

[Robert Lee Harrington]

08:04 AM on 01/01/2012

"Meet the New Boss;
Same as the Old Boss!"

[careythehero]

09:41 PM on 12/31/2011

What I like about this new guy is if you're gonna be a dictator he's certainly got the look. I see a Godfather trilogy North Korean style in the works!

[Koreboomer]

08:32 PM on 12/31/2011

The only thing we know for sure about the new leader of N. Korea is that he's NEVER missed a meal.

[ManuOB1]

05:15 PM on 12/31/2011

(Message to HP editors: I think you switched this headline for the other one about North Korea.)

[NEWSMAN2012]

03:54 PM on 12/31/2011

Another fat dictator

[Golfnjack]

11:14 AM on 12/31/2011

Now there's a picture of a happy, carefree, fat, dictator if ever there was one. I can just imagine what's going through his mind...
"who am I going to torture today and where is my dog soup and sandwich?"

[red skull]

01:53 AM on 12/31/2011

Why, that's Augustus Gloop.

[kkdkdkdkdk]

05:31 PM on 12/30/2011

This boy has been raised to be evil. Its in his blood and nurture. And by the way he's about as appealing as his old man. I think we ought to let the Chinese take care of their little brother and pull everyone and everything out. They have bluffed the South Koreans into "helping them" which has always been the way with communists with non-communists. These twits don't have any idea how dangerous their playing with fire is all about. If they start something I think we ought to use nukes this time and put an end to it before we get involved again in a war in Asia. We ought to make it clear to them that any attack on the South will bring a nuclear attack. End of story.

[MtnMutt]

11:07 AM on 12/31/2011

I doubt it's the end of story when radiation would drift over Japan.

[REDSTATEREFUGEE]

04:55 PM on 12/30/2011

Is it just me or does anyone else notice the vague resemblance of the new boy dictator to Hank Hill's son Bobby on "King of the Hill," except with personality removed? I give this little toad until the end of 2012, when, by then, the ruling military junta will determine some way to rid NK of its latest hereditary ruler....

[oftenon]

04:06 PM on 12/30/2011

Cut it out - this is really a publicity shot for Asian TVs Addams Family, right?

[clownprince]

02:10 PM on 12/30/2011

Of couse there'll be no change. Who did you expect, Nelson Mandela? Mikhail Gorbachev?

[ipleathe5thh]

01:11 PM on 12/30/2011

That's too bad this was their chance to finally start being part of the world but i guess they want their people to starve...

[rodneylbish]

12:06 PM on 12/30/2011

I wonder how much was spent on that haircut ? he looks like a addams famiily reject.

[ipleathe5thh]

01:13 PM on 12/30/2011

He looks like a Buddha with hair

[cavallo]

12:01 PM on 12/30/2011

Remember when old man Bush was president and someone started to whisper the dirtiest words the Pentagon and Congress could hear-"peace dividend?" Heaven forbid there should be no more wars, that the U.S. should stop bombing and invading countries. What happened to military spending? It went up every year from $280 billion under Carter to over a trillion today.

And American people love to burn their tax dollars, whether they vote for a Democrat or Republican.

There will never ever be peace in the world. Too much money at stake. Right wing forces that control the U.S., thus the planet, will never give an inch.

No matter who runs the U.S., there will be no change, same as North Korea.