NK leader fast cementing hold on leadership

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, right, reacts on a ride as he attends the completion ceremony of the Rungna People's Pleasure Ground in Pyongyang in this undated photo released by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Thursday. (Photo : Yonhap)

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has asserted his leadership style with more speed than expected, analysts said Thursday, amid a series of moves aimed to build his personality cult.

From attending a concert featuring Disney and other icons of American culture to the surprise acknowledgment of his 2010 marriage, watchers say Kim has been busy shaping his image as more open than his father, the late despot Kim Jong-il.

At the same time, the regime has gone to lengths to show its control over the military by promoting younger officials and the ouster of Kim’s top military aide Ri Yong-ho.

“He is making an effort to differentiate himself from his father and show this to his country,” said Baek Seung-joo, a senior analyst at the state-run Korea Institute of Defense Analyses in Seoul. “Now that he has shown he is different in style, the hope is that he will show he is different in policy as well.”

The public relations campaign began earlier this month when state media released images of Kim taking in a concert featuring icons such as Mickey Mouse and Rocky Balboa. The band played the classic “My Way” in what may have been a reference to Kim’s new style.

Perhaps the biggest sign of Kim’s greater sense of openness came Wednesday, when a newscaster said during a seemingly routine report that a woman repeatedly seen with Kim was his wife “comrade Ri Sol-ju.” Watchers here say they married in 2010 and that they may have a child.

Baek linked the new style of prominently featuring Kim’s wife ― who observers say carries the poise of a first lady ― to the young leader’s education at a Swiss boarding school.

“Consciously or unconsciously, he seems to have picked up more Western etiquette and seems to be employing this in his leadership.”

In contrast, Kim Jong-il was known for his secrecy, and his consorts and children were rarely mentioned.

It isn’t the first time the North’s media under Kim _ who took power after his father’s death in December _ has surprised observers. In April, it admitted to its people the failure of its satellite launch, which the international community condemned as a test of ballistic missile technology.

Though some analysts say it is yet too early to say if the North will attempt to reform its beleaguered economy, they acknowledge that evidence of change is beginning to stack up.

There have been rumors that the North is tinkering with agricultural reforms, with defector groups saying measures have been implemented in some areas to increase the proportion of crops that farming family can keep. The measures have raised speculation that they could include economic changes as well.

Since taking power, the new regime has signaled that it will balance that with economic development, with Kim stressing the need to improve living conditions and reportedly ordering cadres to seek solutions to economic problems. It has changed its Constitution to refer to itself as a “nuclear state,” hinting that it feels more secure with its defenses to the point where the economy may get equal billing.

Watchers said the sacking of Ri could help Kim experiment as it gives him a tighter grip over the military, mitigating possible challenges.

Still, it remains to be seen whether the North will soften its stance over stalled nuclear negotiations as it recently threatened to reconsider a third nuclear test after it claimed Seoul and Washington had deployed a North Korean defector across the border to damage statues of country founder Kim Il-sung. Seoul flatly denies the allegation. <The Korea Times/Kim Young-jin>

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