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SEOUL: A South Korean newspaper said Wednesday that the youngest son of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il has taken control of the secret police as a first step towards succeeding his father.
Dong-A Ilbo, citing sources, said Kim told key Department of State Security officials to treat 26-year-old Jong-Un as their boss when father and son visited the headquarters in Pyongyang around March.
"You should treat comrade Kim Jong-Un as agency chief. Protect comrade Kim Jong-Un with your lives as you did to me in the past," Kim Jong-Il was quoted as saying.
Kim then awarded agency officials five imported luxury cars worth some 80,000 dollars each, it said.
The agency, which cracks down on dissidents and conducts overseas spy operations, has been under the control of Kim senior since 1987, the paper said.
It said the office of director is vacant and chief deputy director U Tong-Chuk is formally in charge, but agency officials see Jong-Un as effectively in control.
The paper said the agency is growing more powerful after taking control of border immigration offices from the military. Border guards are expected to follow suit as early as next month, it said.
Seoul intelligence officials have been quoted as saying that Kim, 67, who reportedly suffered a stroke last August, has nominated Jong-Un to succeed him.
The National Intelligence Service declined comment on the latest report.
Yang Moo-Jin, of Seoul's University of North Korean Studies, said he had no information about the son's reported takeover of the secret police.
"Kim Jong-Un definitely seems to be a frontrunner in succeeding his father, but we have to wait until we get more convincing evidence -- hopefully around October 10 when the ruling party marks its founding," Yang told AFP.
Last week Japan's Mainichi Shimbun newspaper said Jong-Un has been appointed acting chairman of the National Defence Commission under his ailing father. That report could also not be confirmed.
Kim Jong-Il has ruled the reclusive state largely through his two highest posts -- chairman of the National Defence Commission and secretary general of the ruling Workers' Party -- since his father Kim Il-Sung died in 1994.
Dong-A Ilbo said Jong-Un was already known to be involved in personnel appointments at the organisational department of the Workers' Party.
- AFP/yt
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