North Korea military, uncle ‘to share power’ with Kim Jong-Un

North Korea will be ruled by a group of leaders following the death of ruler Kim Jong-Il last week, according to Reuters news agency. It said the dead Communist dictator’s son Kim Jong-Un, who is 30 years old, will head a ruling coterie which will also contain at least one army general and the young heir’s uncle. 

Reuters

The agency said it had been tipped off by the same anonymous source who gave it the exclusive news of North Korea’s first nuclear test in 2006.

It would be the first time North Korea has been governed by a collective leadership since it was founded in 1948.

Anthony Terrade/RFI

Both Kim Jong-Il and his father Kim Il-sung were all-powerful, authoritarian rulers of the isolated state.

Beneath Kim Jong-Un will be his uncle and Kim Jong-Il’s brother-in-law Jang Song-Thaek, 65.

Jang is seen as the power behind the throne along with his wife Kim Kyong-Hui, Kim Jong-Il’s sister.

The Reuters source says the man representing the military in the new junta is likely to be Ri Yong-Ho, the army’s highest-ranking general.

The source added that North Korea fired a test missile on Monday to warn the United States not to make any moves against it.

North Korea said Wednesday that millions of grief-stricken people had turned out to mourn their “Dear Leader” Kim Jong-il.

Television footage showed tears streaming down the face of his son’s face as he stood before his father’s body.

Elsewhere in the city mourners were shown weeping before portraits of Kim Jong-il who presided over a 1990s famine that killed hundreds of thousands of people.