North Korean leader promotes youngest son
Reclusive North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has promoted his youngest son, Kim Jong-un, to the rank of general, just one day before a rare meeting of North Korea’s ruling Workers Party. The move added to speculation that Kim Jong-un will take over for his ailing father in the future.
We speak with Charles Armstrong, the director of the Center for Korean Research at Columbia University, about what that succession could mean for the secretive authoritarian state with nuclear ambitions, and for the rest of the world. We also go to Seoul to get the latest from the BBC’s John Sudworth and, later, Mark McDonald of The New York Times.
The World is an independent newsroom. We’re not funded by billionaires; instead, we rely on readers and listeners like you. As a listener, you’re a crucial part of our team and our global community. Your support is vital to running our nonprofit newsroom, and we can’t do this work without you. Will you support The World with a gift today? Donations made between now and Dec. 31 will be matched 1:1. Thanks for investing in our work!