North Korea's Kim a 'military genius'

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SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA - North Korea's state-run television called new, untested leader Kim Jong Un a "military genius" on Sunday and showed him driving a tank, sitting in the cockpit of a warplane and interacting with soldiers in a youthful display of camaraderie that was unlike the style of his late father.

The broadcast, a documentary on North Korea's Central TV, also claimed that Kim, believed to be in his late 20s, oversaw the April 2009 test-launching of a long-range rocket.

"I had determined to enter a war if the enemies dared to intercept" the rocket, he said in the program.

The program appeared to be part of North Korea's frenzied campaign to burnish Kim's credentials as a leader who can command its 1.2 million soldiers, one of the world's largest armies and a crucial element to his consolidation of power.

Kim took over after his father, longtime dictator Kim Jong Il, died on Dec. 17. Late last month, he became supreme commander of the military, officially taking on the first of his father's several top military and Communist Party posts.

North Korea's propaganda campaign has since billed him as the "great successor" of his father's songun, or "military first," policy, which emphasizes armed might. But the North's development of nuclear weapons and tests of long-range missiles have brought economic sanctions that have deepened the country's isolation and poverty.

Sunday's documentary began with Kim Jong Un riding a white horse, as Kim Jong Il often did in propaganda murals in North Korea. It was unclear when and where much of the video had been shot.

Kim Jong Un was believed to have been groomed as successor at least from 2008, when his father suffered a stroke. He was officially unveiled as heir in 2010, when he was made a four-star general and vice chairman of the ruling Workers Party's Central Military Commission.

Although he is said to have graduated from the top military academy in Pyongyang, there is no indication that he had served in the army.

The North Korean media have been busy filling in the gaps in his military r?sum?, claiming that he wrote his first thesis on military strategy when he was 16. During his New Year's Day inspection of a tank division, he participated in a firing exercise, "making the New Year's first sound of gunfire," the documentary said.

Unlike his father, who usually stood solemnly during such inspections and was kept at a reverential distance from soldiers unless he took group pictures with them, Kim was seen laughing and clutching the hands of army officers and soldiers.

The documentary was broadcast on what is believed to be Kim Jong Un's birthday. He is believed to have turned 28, 29 or 30 on Sunday.

Source: http://www.startribune.com/world/136916593.html

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