Article Assigned for 4th of Oct. Park Jiyoung

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North Korea

We three Kims of Orient are

The long-awaited conference of the ruling party finally opens

Sep 30th 2010 | SEOUL

All in favour say Kim

HE HAS just been anointed the guardian of socialism in an economically troubled country, leaping ahead of a sidelined elder brother and representing a new generation. But enough about Ed Miliband. This week, Kim Jong Un, the third son of Kim Jong Il, emerged—as expected—to become dictator-in-waiting in North Korea, which is fast becoming the world's only communist monarchy.

When the Korean Workers' Party began its long-awaited conference on September 28th, the younger Kim was quickly made a four-star general, member of the party's central committee and vice-president of the central military commission. Despite spending much of his life in Switzerland, and never having held any position of significance at home, the twenty-something Mr Kim has—on paper—become one of the most powerful people in the country.

This is the first step towards giving him enough power and experience to ensure that there is a smooth succession when his father dies. As Moon Chung-in, a professor at Yonsei University in Seoul, puts it, he will be "patronised by three layers of support groups, the military, the party, and the family clan."

Of the five other generals appointed at the same time, two have probably been chosen purely to help his cause. One is the little-known Choi Ryong Hae, a Kim family loyalist, who has been a friend of Kim Jong Il since childhood and is the son of a man who served under Kim Il Sung, the founder of North Korea and the current ruler's father. The other, Kim Kyung Hui, is another family member: the sister of the Dear Leader himself. No less important, she is the wife of Chang Sung Taek, the vice-chairman of the National Defence Commission (the country's main decision-making body) and the second most powerful man in the country. It is assumed that Mr Chang and his wife will take responsibility for the tutelage of Kim the Third, shielding the little prince as if they were regents.

Some analysts had expected that the conference, the first such gathering for 30 years, would also mark a renewal of influence of the Korean Workers' Party itself, which has been neglected by Kim Jong Il in favour of the army. China, North Korea's main ally, is thought to have been pressing him to boost the party's role. But this may not be happening. Kim Jong Un was appointed a general first, and party official second—a sequence widely interpreted as meaning that the military-first policy would continue.

Although the leadership appointments have understandably attracted the most attention, there is more at stake than just the succession. Vacant positions in the party leadership need to be filled (so far, there has been only one: the predicted reappointment of Kim Jong Il as the party's secretary-general). And there is talk of economic reform. The North Korean leadership is thought to be afraid of opening up, following a disastrous currency reform last year that led to the execution of the official blamed for it. But China is pushing for change—and its influence over the regime seems to be growing. Reforms would probably include the revival of the Sinuiju special economic zone, which has been mothballed since its first governor, a businessman called Yang Bin, was jailed in his native China for tax evasion in 2002.

Asia