While reports are mounting that the North Korean ruler is sick or even dead, no one in the world has any idea who is going to replace him • Will it be his younger sister to inherit the crown?

• From a very possible candidate, Kim Yu Jong // Photo: IP

What happens when a not very large country, with nuclear capability, a long-range ballistic missile system, extreme ideology, collapsing economy and a population under constant threat of hunger, is in no control? This gruesome question is what is now going on in the minds of millions around the world, with the rumors growing about his dire medical condition, or even Kim Jong Un's death.

North Korea, the country in which the three members of the Kim dynasty, Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il and Kim Jong Un, have never faced a situation where there is no consensual heir who is well groomed to inherit his father. Both Kim Jong Il and Kim Jong Un have been cultivated from an early age to assume the omnipotent ruler of the Democratic Republic of Korea.



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Despite the fact that the state has mechanisms that should, in principle, be loyal to the nomination of office holders in the country, decades of unrestrained rule of the Kim dynasty have left these mechanisms only as a rubber stamp, with decisions usually made in a closed circle of government and military and party leaders .

Importantly, prior to any speculation that could be raised on the subject, almost all of the West's existing information on what is happening in North Korea is fragments of information received at various times and whose credibility is always questionable. That being said, no one outside the North Korean leadership's circle knows who will make the decision and ultimately elect Kim's successor, but there are a number of options that seem reasonable.

The New Empress

The first and clearest option for everyone to inherit leadership in the closed country is the ruler's sister, Kim Yu Jong, 32, and a senior government official in her own right. Kim Yu Jong officially heads the government propaganda system and has been trained to take an active part in the administration from an early age. She holds legitimacy in power as the daughter of the late tyrant Kim Jong Il and is often observed alongside her brother as a maid and confidant.

Like Kim Jong Un, Kim Yu Jong was also educated at a prestigious institution in Switzerland, although her studies ended when she was only in sixth grade. She was further labeled by her father as having a political future when she introduced foreign critics as interested in politics and interested in taking part in the state leadership.

The signs that at least her brother refers to her as part of the government are numerous. In 2014, Kim Yu Jong took some of her brother's powers while undergoing a series of medical treatments whose nature is unknown. In 2018, with the warming of relations with South Korea and the United States, it was Kim Yu Jong who first invited in the history of North Korea a reporter group, mostly from Russia, to one of the Kim family's official dormitories and had a regular English conversation with them about her country's intentions and aspirations.

In 2017, she was appointed a member of Politburo, the governing body of North Korea, becoming the only woman in the country's history to do so. In 2018, she attended on behalf of her brothers at a meeting with South Korean President Moon Jay Inn and seemed to be taking an active part in the discussions. But the highlight of her career happened when she came with her brother to meet President Trump, initially in Singapore and then in Hanoi. In both events she took an active part in the discussions.

The Whispering Kingdom

While it's unclear how many children Kim Jong Un has and their exact age, none of them appear to be mature enough to be a replacement, so it's clear why Kim trained his sister for a possible heir. My father's blood, Kim Il Sung, exerted a great deal of power on his sister and husband and aided them even when his sons had lived enough to be heirs. But while it certainly seems possible that Kim Jong Un sees his sister as a possible replacement, it's hard to tell if the rest of the military and political elite will accept her.

The leadership of North Korea, made up mostly of military personnel and senior party officials, may not see a young woman as a logical replacement for an heir to the Kim dynasty. The prospect of becoming a military courtyard, and the attempt by the regime's leaders to find a replacement, is a real possibility, but its downside is the detachment from the legitimacy of the Kim dynasty, which has gained a divine place with incessant propaganda and extreme personality worship.

The descendants of the known Kim dynasty remain only Kim Jong Un's aunt, Kim Gyung Hoi, whose husband was executed by Kim for fear that he was subverting him along with the rest of the regime. Elder Kim Gyung Hui was spotted alongside her nephew at an official event in January, how she is not considered to be taking an active part in the regime and is not considered a genuine candidate to replace him.

The snapshot is that if Kim Jong Un died, he left no age-appropriate heirs to inherit power and made the world go away with his uncle and brother who could have been potential replacements. But one thing is clear, if the regime in North Korea wants to survive in a global and frequently changing world, has to produce continuity and stability, every little jolt can end the project that they worked hard and bloodily for the Kim dynasty for over seventy years.