Talk:Kim Il (politician)

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CND?[edit]

What is meant by CND? --Soman (talk) 23:06, 31 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The party of course.Max Mux (talk) 13:11, 2 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

But that abbreviation is not listed at the Workers Party of Korea article. Wouldn't it be better to shift to WPK? --Soman (talk) 14:49, 2 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Supporter or opposer of Kim Jong-il?[edit]

@Ruling party: The Far East and Australasia 2003 says Kim Il was opposed to Kim Jong-il's succession. "North Korea's Hereditary Succession" by Jae-Cheon Lim on the other hand says he was one of his staunchest supporters! I would like to resolve this by seeing what other sources say. Have you ran into similar discussion? – Finnusertop (talk ⋅ contribs) 04:27, 3 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

@Finnusertop: That's a very good question. The rumour mill in Pyongyang will never stop as long as the state is sooo totalitarian (a term I hate, but I have to admit it fits perfectly to NK). Li Pil-gyu, in discussion with the Soviet ambassador, claimed that "Kim Il – Kim Il Sung's protégé. He will always side with Kim Il Sung." But Hwang Jang-yop wrote in his memoirs that Kim Il said that even Mao Zedong accepted criticism from his fellow party leaders, a small hint of criticism of Kim Il-sung during his stay in Beijing. It might also be probable that he opposed the succession, but saw no good allies. For instance, Choe Chang-ik told the Soviet ambassador "Pak Heon-yeong [Pak Hon-Yyong] and Yi Sung-yeop [Yi Sung-yop]. These are bad people, enemies of our people, and Hegai's mistakes ought not be equated with their malicious activity." That is, Kim Il-sung didn't really need to do anything at all when the people around him are soo divided.

But to Kim Il. Obviously there was lukewarm reception to the idea. Upon Kim Il-sung's death, the only leading national post Kim Jong-il held was First Vice Chairman of the National Defence Commission and he, in all probability, swiftly took his father's place here. A military dictatorship is only formed within a one-party context if one feels oneself too be threatened. One should also add the following questions; was Choe Hyon killed as rumours state or died naturally? Why don't Kim Il's offsprings have high-standing posts in North Korea? There is generally a tendency within North Korea that the children of these men inherit power.

I will add that, if he was very opposed, he would probably not have been elected to the 6th Presidium of the Workers' Party of Korea. But, one does notice, that he was not elected to the 6th Secretariat of the Workers' Party of Korea or the 6th Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea. So what does that mean? Did Kim Il-sung know he was sick and had a few years to live? Or did Kim Il-sung know that, when it came to the succession, he was not dependable?

Very short answer. I have utterly no clue. I'm guessing that Kim Il was sceptical, but he had no one to form a broad alliance with to oppose such moves. Which is of course understandable, a totalitarian system like North Korea divides people. How can you form an alliance if you're constantly bugged, listened to and the complete failure to agree is considered treason? The tragedy of North Korea is that the opposition, if they had collaborated instead of trying to destroy each other, probably could have defeated Kim Il-sung. But alas, they never really did. This reminds of the American official who, when talking about the Venezuelan opposition, said "It's the gang that can't shoot straight" --Ruling party (talk) 08:49, 3 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]