Mick Hartley

The Chubby Leader-to-be, in the great traditions of ruling dynasty power politics, is flexing his muscles:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's son Jong-un has unleashed a reign of terror and kickstarted his own personality cult to make up for his lack of experience and competence over the past year. The tubby 20-something was anointed as his father's successor at a party congress last year. 

"Kim Jong-un is implementing a reign of terror using military and public security agencies," a source said on Wednesday. "The elite is becoming agitated as he has gone all out to purge senior officials who pose a hurdle to his succession." 

Senior officials such as minister of public security Ju Sang-song, vice premier Ri Tae-nam, and deputy director of the State Security Department Ryu Kyong were fired or executed on corruption charges. 

Kim junior also ordered a merciless crackdown on "anti-socialist" trends, including South Korean pop music and TV series, and got deeply involved in organizational and personnel matters at the State Security Department and the Ministry of Public Security, the source added. 

As a result, public executions tripled to about 60 last year compared to 2009, and the regime has been carrying out a massive hunt for potential defectors. A special mobile force armed with riot gear has been established to quell any popular uprisings….

The regime is bent on building a personality cult around Kim junior. An indoctrination handbook has been distributed since the first half of last year with preposterous stories, one of which claims that senior military officers were stunned to see Kim junior fire a handgun when he was only three years old and draw an operational map when he was a schoolboy. 

A signboard was set up at each major agency and factory saying "Daejangbok," which means "people enjoy the happiness (bok) of having general (daejang) Kim Jong-un." Agencies Kim Junior visited mounted a signboard saying, "Kim Jong-un gave on-the-spot guidance here."

As I remarked recently, the field guidance never ends.