Drastic changes appear to be taking place in North Korea as its Korean Workers' Party (KWP) further strengthens its grip and its strongman Kim Jong Il tackles three major tasks: to pave the way for announcing his successor, to minimize whatever damage may result from the birth of a new conservative government in South Korea, which is less friendly to the North, and to normalize the strained relationship with Japan.
The KWP has been scrutinizing the ideologies of high-ranking officials of the party and officials at various organizations, and making new appointments and dismissals in an unprecedented scale. Playing the central role in this undertaking is Kim Johng Chol, the second son of Kim Jong Il and deputy chief of the all powerful Leadership Division of the party, who is said to have been handpicked as his father's successor. The son is following in the footsteps of his father, who in his young days resorted to purging tactics to consolidate his power.
According to diplomatic sources in Pyongyang, Kim Jong Il is preparing to announce his son as the successor after celebrating the centennial of the birth of his father, Kim Il Sung, in 2012.