Kim Jong Un Just a 'Symbol': Dear Brother

Pyongyang elite will rule North Korea: Kim Jong Nam
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 12, 2012 12:45 PM CST
Kim Jong Un Just a 'Symbol': Dear Brother
In a picture taken on June 4, 2010 Kim Jong-Nam, the eldest son of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il, waves after an interview with South Korean media representatives in Macau.   (Getty Images)

One person who doesn't support the rule of Kim Jong Un: his brother, Kim Jong Nam. "I expect the existing ruling elite to follow in the footsteps of my father while keeping the young successor as a symbolic figure," he reportedly said in an email to a Japanese newspaper. "It is difficult to accept a third-generation succession under a normal reasoning."

Kim Jong Nam, who became estranged from father Kim Jong Il when he attempted to visit Disneyland in Japan in 2001, added that he has "doubts about how a young successor with some two years [of training as heir]" can hold on to power. He has criticized hereditary succession before, Fox News notes, telling the same newspaper last year that "even Chairman Mao Zedong of China did not enforce hereditary succession." (More Kim Jong Nam stories.)

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