North Korean leader’s eldest son opposes dynastic succession

TOKYO - The eldest son of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il said he opposes his family keeping their hold on power in the reclusive communist state, a news report said Tuesday.

“Personally, I’m against the hereditary succession for three generations,” Kim Jong Nam told Japan’s TV Asahi in an interview which aired Tuesday. “But I think there were good internal reasons. If so, I believe we should abide by such reasons.”

Kim Jong Un, Kim Jong Nam’s youngest half-brother, was recently appointed to the central committee of the ruling North Korean Workers Party. He was also named vice chairman of the party’s powerful central military commission and was promoted to four-star general.

“I believe our dear father made a decision on the succession,” Kim Jong Nam told TV Asahi. “I’m less concerned about it as I did not object from the beginning and I was not interested.”

“I hope the brother will do his best for the sake of the North Korean people and the residents’ affluent lives,” he said.

Kim Jong Nam had been a past favourite pick to succeed his father. But after he was caught trying to enter Japan on a fake passport to visit Tokyo Disneyland, he reportedly fell from grace.

TV Asahi said the interview was conducted Saturday, a day before Kim Jong Un made a high-profile debut at a massive military parade through the streets of Pyongyang.