N. Korea’s Kim Is Reportedly Close to Handing Power to Son

Kim Il Sung, North Korea’s “Great Leader” since 1948, will step down after his 78th birthday next month and hand day-to-day power to his son, a Japanese news agency reported Friday.

Kim’s birthday is April 15, but the Kyodo News Service report from Beijing did not specify when the changeover would happen.

It quoted Chinese government sources as saying Beijing was told in mid-February that Kim was poised to complete the long-heralded turnover to his 48-year-old son, Kim Jong Il, though he would not relinquish all control.

“He will become North Korea’s Deng Xiaoping,” Kyodo quoted them as saying, referring to China’s 85-year-old paramount leader, who retains his power by operating behind the scenes.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman denied knowledge of any such contacts, Kyodo said, adding there was no immediate comment from the North Korean Embassy in the Chinese capital.

However, some observers in South Korea doubted the report.

“With what’s happening in Eastern Europe and elsewhere, Kim Il Sung might find it more necessary than ever to tighten his grip on power,” said Kim Chang Soon, head of the private North Korea Studies Institute in Seoul. “It would be too risky for him to hand power to the junior Kim at this juncture.”

Observers in Tokyo have been on the alert for political developments in North Korea since the Pyongyang government last month announced elections to its Supreme People’s Assembly for April 22, more than six months ahead of schedule.

In addition, North Korea’s press has stepped up its praise of the younger Kim. Just this week, they said the “Dear Leader” had inspired a remarkable upsurge in consumer goods production.