Kim Jong-un 'visits China as supreme leader's heir'
Kim Jong-il's youngest son and heir in waiting reportedly visits China to hold talks with country's leaders
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Tuesday, 16, Jun 2009 10:07
Kim Jong-il's youngest son and heir in waiting has reportedly visited China to hold talks with Communist party leaders.
According to unnamed sources cited in the Japanese media, Kim Jong-un took a secret flight from Pyongyang to Beijing earlier this month.
There he met Chinese president Hu Jintao and introduced himself as his father's successor as supreme leader of North Korea, the Asahi newspaper said.
Pyongyang's belligerent behaviour in recent months, which culminated in an underground nuclear test in May, has been seen as Kim's attempt to consolidate his powerbase to justify his succession.
Jong-un has also reportedly been credited with the nuclear test, which drew universal international criticism and was followed by a series of short-range missile launches by the north and drew a new raft of United Nations security council sanctions.
Another nuclear test and accompanying short-range missile launches are expected this week, with some analysts now suggesting Kim is increasing tensions to breaking point to then allow his son to take credit by resolving them diplomatically to confirm and legitimise his status as heir.
Kim's succession has been a hotly debated subject since the 67-year-old reportedly suffered a stroke last summer. He inherited power from his father when Kim Il-sung died in 1994.
His apparent favour of Jong-un, 25, was signalled when he was appeared on the ballot paper for Pyongyang's parliament earlier this year and later appointed to a mid-level position in the country's military.
Next to nothing is known of Jong-un other than that his mother Ko Young-hee, one of his father's consorts, died in 2004, probably from breast cancer.
He is understood to have attended university in Switzerland and speaks fluent German, but no official photos of him have been released.
According to South Korean news agency Yonhap, Jong-un has already received loyalty pledges from senior figures in the North Korean military.