The power brokers behind North Korea's next leader

 

North Korea's young and inexperienced next leader will lean on a seasoned inner circle headed by his aunt and uncle to guide him through the transition to supreme ruler.

Kim Jong Un, who vaulted into the leadership role with the death of his father, Kim Jong Il, made his public debut as anointed successor only 15 months ago. Since then, the whirlwind political campaign has barreled ahead — but perhaps not fast enough to mask the air of uncertainty felt in the streets of Pyongyang, the North Korean capital.

The late Kim Jong Il had 20 years of preparation at the side of his father, North Korean founder Kim Il Sung, who died in 1994. Experts say that because Kim Jong Un doesn't have that kind of experience, the youngest member of the political dynasty will need the brains and political brawn of his father's closest confidants before formally taking power.

"Kim Jong Il was in a frantic race against time," said Jonathan Pollack, a North Korea expert at the Brookings Institution in Washington, "and he lost."

Analysts say two close, trusted family members and political power brokers have emerged as Kim Jong Un's main protectors: paternal aunt Kim Kyong Hui and her husband, Jang Song Thaek, who have risen to the top of North Korea's political and military elite since the succession campaign began two years ago.

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