ID :
21909
Mon, 09/29/2008 - 16:16
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/21909
The shortlink copeid
Kim's health will have no effect on Pyongyang: former NK official
(ATTN:CHANGES slug, RECASTS headline, lead; RESTRUCTURES and TRIMS throughout; ADDS defector's comment on China in paras 9, 10)
By Kim Boram
SEOUL, Sept. 29 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's illness, or even his death, will not significantly change the reclusive regime, a former high-ranking North Korean official was quoted as saying Monday.
Speculation has been swirling since Seoul's intelligence officials said two weeks
ago that the 66-year-old North Korean leader is recovering from a stroke that he
suffered last month.
The outside world, including South Korea, has been keenly interested in Kim's
health due to his country's nuclear ambitions. Kim, not seen in public since Aug.
14, is known to have slightly recovered, but not well enough to freely move his
limbs.
"Anyone who replaces Kim can govern the regime," Hwang Jang-yop, former secretary
of Pyongyang's ruling Workers' Party, told ruling party lawmakers Monday. "Kim's
death will never lead to its collapse."
Hwang, who defected to the South in 1997, also argued that South Korea should not
be misled by North Korea's "fake gesture" of disabling its nuclear facilities in
Yongbyon.
"The facilities at the Yongbyon nuclear complex are merely pieces of scrap metal
as the North has long been in possession of nuclear arms," he said.
In a 2007 aid-for-denuclearization deal with the United States, South Korea,
China, Japan and Russia, North Korea began disabling its Yongbyon nuclear complex
late last year in anticipation of one million tons of fuel aid.
But North Korea has recently been backtracking from the deal, blaming the United
States for breaking its promise by not removing the North from a terrorist
blacklist, despite Pyongyang's nuclear declaration and the blowing up of a
cooling tower at Yongbyon in June.
Hwang, 85, was also skeptical that China would play a key role in changing the
communist regime.
"Although China is displeased with the Kim Jong-il regime, it may not like the
idea of capitalism entering North Korea as it may have a negative impact on
China," he said. "It might be a good idea for Seoul to strike a free trade deal
with Beijing to secure its cooperation (in opening North Korea)."
Hwang is the highest-ranking North Korean official ever to come to South Korea.
Known to be the key architect of North Korea's ruling ideology of "juche," or
self-reliance, he has been a strong critic of the Pyongyang regime since his
defection.
By Kim Boram
SEOUL, Sept. 29 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's illness, or even his death, will not significantly change the reclusive regime, a former high-ranking North Korean official was quoted as saying Monday.
Speculation has been swirling since Seoul's intelligence officials said two weeks
ago that the 66-year-old North Korean leader is recovering from a stroke that he
suffered last month.
The outside world, including South Korea, has been keenly interested in Kim's
health due to his country's nuclear ambitions. Kim, not seen in public since Aug.
14, is known to have slightly recovered, but not well enough to freely move his
limbs.
"Anyone who replaces Kim can govern the regime," Hwang Jang-yop, former secretary
of Pyongyang's ruling Workers' Party, told ruling party lawmakers Monday. "Kim's
death will never lead to its collapse."
Hwang, who defected to the South in 1997, also argued that South Korea should not
be misled by North Korea's "fake gesture" of disabling its nuclear facilities in
Yongbyon.
"The facilities at the Yongbyon nuclear complex are merely pieces of scrap metal
as the North has long been in possession of nuclear arms," he said.
In a 2007 aid-for-denuclearization deal with the United States, South Korea,
China, Japan and Russia, North Korea began disabling its Yongbyon nuclear complex
late last year in anticipation of one million tons of fuel aid.
But North Korea has recently been backtracking from the deal, blaming the United
States for breaking its promise by not removing the North from a terrorist
blacklist, despite Pyongyang's nuclear declaration and the blowing up of a
cooling tower at Yongbyon in June.
Hwang, 85, was also skeptical that China would play a key role in changing the
communist regime.
"Although China is displeased with the Kim Jong-il regime, it may not like the
idea of capitalism entering North Korea as it may have a negative impact on
China," he said. "It might be a good idea for Seoul to strike a free trade deal
with Beijing to secure its cooperation (in opening North Korea)."
Hwang is the highest-ranking North Korean official ever to come to South Korea.
Known to be the key architect of North Korea's ruling ideology of "juche," or
self-reliance, he has been a strong critic of the Pyongyang regime since his
defection.
