Rick Wallace, Tokyo correspondent
From: The Australian
December 21, 2011 12:00AM
1 comment
A screen shot of North Korean TV footage showing Kim Jong-il's body lying in state in glass coffin in Pyongyang. Source: AFP
AS North Korea's "Great Successor" visited his father's body with a delegation of party and military officials, all eyes turned to China in the quest to predict what will happen next in the hermit kingdom.
The North Korean regime bolstered its propaganda efforts to portray the transition from Kim Jong-il to the young Kim Jong-un as smooth and trouble-free as unconfirmed reports emerged of a security crackdown.
North Korean television broadcast images of grief-stricken people weeping in the streets and state news agency KCNA said the Korean Workers Party, the army and the nation's people remained faithful to Kim Jong-un's leadership "under whatever circumstances with deep trust in him only".
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton - who yesterday made a cautious call for calm and revealed talks had begun with China, Russia, South Korea and Japan - will join other world leaders in looking to Beijing for cues on what to expect next.
Chinese President Hu Jintao visited the North Korean ambassador in Beijing to pay his respects yesterday and there were unconfirmed reports that he would be the only foreign leader attending Kim Jong-il's funeral on December 28 in Pyongyang.
As North Korea's main benefactor, and the chair of the international talks on its denuclearisation, China is the country whose views hold the most sway in Pyongyang.
The Chinese government also pledged to work with the isolated, nuclear-armed state to ensure the "peace and stability of the Korean peninsula and the region". "We believe that under the leadership of the Korean Workers Party and comrade Kim Jong-un, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea people will unite as one and turn their sorrow into strength," Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said.
Foreign ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said that Beijing would "welcome the leaders" of North Korea "to visit at their convenience".
Leaders of all nations involved are anxious to contain any instability in north Asia, where next year will bring a presidential election in South Korea and a scheduled leadership change in China. US President Barack Obama will also face voters next year.
The situation on the Korean peninsula remained tense yesterday with South Korea aborting plans to illuminate several Christmas trees along the border, an act that had previously prompted threats of gunfire from the North.
But human rights activists in the South have said they intend to press on with plans to float anti-regime leaflets over the border today via balloons, another activity that infuriates Pyongyang.
The border crossing at the Chinese city of Dandong remained closed yesterday and defector-run websites in South Korea published unconfirmed accounts of a security clampdown in the North. Troops were said to be forcing people to remain in their houses and banning public meetings of more than five people in the official mourning period.
Kim Jong-il is expected to be interred in the Kumsusan Memorial Palace, where the body of his father, Kim Il-sung, lies in state.
Chinese academics and analysts said Beijing would move swiftly to prevent events in North Korea from spiralling out of control and to extend the reach of China's influence over its fractious ally. Zhu Feng, deputy director of Beijing University's Strategic Research Centre, said China had "sent clear and definitive signals" recognising Kim Jong-un as the next-generation leader while pressing for stability.
"China wants stability in North Korea's power transition, as well as its domestic situation. Instability is not in the interests of China," Professor Zhu said. "China really wants North Korea to understand that reform and opening up are crucial to its survival."
The International Crisis Group's North East Asia project director Stephanie Kleine-Ahlbrandt said she expected Mr Hu would attend Kim Jong-il's funeral in solidarity with the North Korean leadership.
She said China would offer political and economic support to help solidify Kim Jong-un's position with the hope of later convincing him to enact reforms and curb the country's aggression.
The sudden announcement on Monday of Kim Jong-il's death on Saturday freezes a mooted deal that was expected to be announced this week for a resumption of US food aid in exchange for nuclear co-operation from Pyongyang.
North Korea specialist Narushige Michishita, of Tokyo's National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, said although Pyongyang would be busy with the leadership transition, he expected diplomatic talks with the US to resume quickly.
"In 1994 when Kim Il-sung died there were US-DPRK talks going on," he said. "They stalled for a while, but within four months the two countries had signed the agreed framework."
Professor Michishita did not expect any violence from North Korea as it was a "time for mourning rather than making a fuss" and, for now, any internal rivals to Kim Jong-un would be keeping their powder dry.
South Korea and its allies have been left pondering their intelligence agencies' failure to learn promptly of the death of Kim Jong-il on Saturday or develop a clear picture of the young man who will take on the leadership mantle.
It emerged yesterday that South Korea's main spy agency and the defence ministry had no hint of Kim Jong-il's death and learned of it via North Korean state news. The US, which has 30,000 troops stationed in South Korea, also appeared to have no warning of what was to come and yesterday was still struggling to generate a clear view of what to expect from Kim Jong-un.
Additional reporting: AFP
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1 Comment
Edumacated Observer of Campbelltown
Posted at 8:13 AM Today
With all the concern of stability, and a growing reliance on china for Korean stability, wouldn't a western blind eye to progressive Chinese influence and infiltration of the DPRK, in the old soviet style, be preferable. Results a. Stability. b. Feed the starving c. Democratization in step with chinas, un years to come. Imagine the instability when DPRK is cut off from it's benefactor, as it's benefactor leaves it behind.
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What do you think ?
Các anh chị nghĩ thế nào, có ý kiến phê bình gì qua bài viết "World alert for Chinese whispers on new North Korea" của Rick Wallace
và Ý kiến phê bình của Edumacated Observer ?
Các anh chị có nhận xét gì về những nhận định khác biệt từ các cơ quan truyền thông nổi tiếng trên thế giới về thái độ của tàu cộng đối với "lãnh đạo mới" của Bắc Hàn ?
Chúng ta chờ xem trò hề "cha truyền con nối" trơ trẽn khả ố ở các nước cộng sản còn sót lại trên thế giới mà người dân trong các nước đó vẫn phải cúi đầu "tung hô vạn tuế " một cách thật nhục nhã mà cũng thật tội nghiệp, sẽ như thế nào ở Bắc Hàn trong những ngày tới .
Đau lòng và tủi nhục vì trong các nước cộng sản còn sót lại đó có cả đất nước VN thân yêu của dân tộc VN, đã và đang bị bè lũ phản quốc CƯỚP NƯỚC DIỆT CHỦNG BÁN NƯỚC đảng Việt gian cộng sản VN HỦY DIỆT .
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog"
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
21122011
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CSVN là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC
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