Wife of Kim Jong-il, Ko Young-hee, is Reported to be Dead

Sources in China familiar with North Korea reported on August 30 that North Korean Chairman Kim Jong-il’s wife, Ko Young-hee, 51, died on the dawn of August 13 due to a heart attack.

An intelligence officer of the Korea government commented on the report, “The official position of the Korean government is ‘no comment’ or ‘NCND’ (Neither Confirm Nor Deny),” raising strong suspicions that the Korean government already knew about the death of Ko.

The Death of Ko is Becoming Almost Certain—

A news source in Beijing said, “Ko Young-hee had been suffering from mammary cancer for the past few years, and her illness recurred again last year, so she was treated for tumor in a hospital in Paris, but her illness was inextirpable, and she died of a heart attack during therapy on August 13.”

“It is customary for North Korea to keep Chairman Kim’s private life in complete secrecy, hence they did not announce the death of Ko, prepared her funeral covertly, and did not seem to plan to officially announce her death in the near future,” added the source in Beijing.

It is known that Ko Young-hee was born in 1953 in Japan and took a ship headed for North Korea with her family sometime in the 1960s. As a dancer, she was part of the Mansoodae Art Band and met Chairman Kim while performing. After the 1990s, she became the de facto official wife of Chairman Kim.

Chairman Kim’s Heirs—

If the death of Ko is in fact true, it will have a certain effect on Chairman Kim’s decision of picking his heir. There is the possibility of Chairman Kim’s three sons – eldest son Jong-nam, 33, born from his deceased former wife Sung Hae-rim, second son Jong-chul, 23, born from Ko Young-hee, and third son Jong-woon, 20 years old - to compete with each other to become Chairman Kim’s successor.

Sources familiar with North Korean affairs reported that when Ko’s health deteriorated last year with the recurrence of mammary cancer, she focused all her strength in lobbying North Korean politicians, members of the Korean Worker’s Party and the military, as well as those close to Chairman Kim, to appoint one of her two sons as the next heir.

In particular, considering the nature of North Korea’s regime of only idolizing their deceased, such as the mother of former leader Kim Il-sung, Kang Ban-seok, and his wife Kim Jung-sook, the death of Ko might have a positive effect on the chances of one of her two sons inheriting the power. Furthermore, it is known that the process of idolizing Ko had already begun even before her death.

Others predict that eldest son Jong-nam, who disappointed and enraged Chairman Kim by being expelled from Japan while trying to enter with a forged passport in May 2001, might make a come back. However, if Jong-nam returns to the spotlight, Chairman Kim has to admit that he had another wife besides Ko, which is an unlikely step that the North Korean leader might take.

The recent issue of Japan’s weekly magazine “Aera” quoted a North Korean inside document and reported that Chairman Kim had already decided to name Jong-chul as his successor in March of last year.

The magazine did not disclose specifically how it obtained the North Korean document, but it reported that it was the personal order of Chairman Kim, “after comrade Jong-chul’s course of learning the administrative structure of the Korean Worker’s Party is complete, send him for six months to the High-ranking Party Official Academy.”

Yoo-Seong Hwang Jung-Hun Kim yshwang@donga.com jnghn@donga.com