SEOUL, South Korea - North Korean leader Kim Jong Il doled out foreign-made cars to senior intelligence officials to ensure their loyalty to his youngest son when he put the 26-year-old in charge of the country's powerful spy agency, a report said Wednesday.
The appointment is part of Kim's plan to anoint the son, Kim Jong Un, as North Korea's future leader, South Korea's Dong-a Ilbo newspaper said, citing an unidentified source. The son is also overseeing the handling of two U.S. journalists detained in March while on a reporting trip to the Chinese-North Korea border, the report said.
Who will take over as ruler of the nuclear-armed North has been the focus of intense media speculation since the 67-year-old Kim reportedly suffered a stroke last August. Kim, who has three sons, has controlled the reclusive, impoverished nation of 24 million with absolute authority, sparking concerns about instability and a power struggle if he were to die without naming a successor.
Seoul's spy agency reported to lawmakers early this month that Pyongyang notified its diplomatic missions and government agencies overseas that Jong Un would be tapped as the next leader.
Seoul's JoongAng Ilbo newspaper has reported that he was given the title of "Brilliant Comrade," another sign that the regime was preparing to name him as successor.
Jong Un was serving as acting chairman of the National Defence Commission, the country's highest post, one currently held by his father, Japan's Mainichi newspaper reported last weekend.
Wednesday's Dong-a Ilbo report said Kim ordered senior officials at the State Security Department in March to "uphold" Jong Un as head of the agency. Kim told the officials to "safeguard comrade Kim Jong Un with (your) lives as you did for me in the past," the mass-market daily said.
Five luxury cars, each worth some $80,000, were given as gifts to the officials, it said. The paper did not say which cars were given, but Kim has long been known to favour Mercedes and French wine as gifts to ensure his inner circle's loyalty.
South Korea's main spy agency, the National Intelligence Service, said it could not confirm the report.
Pyongyang's State Security Department is the backbone of Kim's harsh rule over the totalitarian nation. It keeps a close watch over government agencies, the military and ordinary people for any signs of dissent. It also engages in spy missions abroad.
The Dong-a Ilbo report also said that Jong Un was overseeing the handling of U.S. journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee of Current TV, a San Francisco-based media venture founded by former Vice-President Al Gore. The two were sentenced to 12 years of hard labour for allegedly crossing into the country illegally and engaging in "hostile acts."
In Washington, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters that Mats Foyer, Sweden's ambassador to North Korea, visited the American journalists in Pyongyang on Tuesday. Sweden serves as the U.S. protecting power in North Korea because Washington does not have diplomatic relations with North Korea.
Foyer has been in "constant contact" with the North, Kelly said. He said the U.S. was "pursuing many different avenues" to secure their release, but he would not elaborate.
On Tuesday, the North's main Rodong Sinmun newspaper carried a remark by Kim Jong Il widely seen as a justification of a father-to-son succession.
"Our revolution is winning victory after victory because the bloodline" of the country's ideology of "juche" -- "self-reliance" -- has been succeeded through generations, Kim was quoted as saying last month.
Kim Jong Il himself was anointed North Korea's leader in 1974 and formally took power when his father, founder Kim Il Sung, died in 1994.
Kim appears to be boosting his public appearances to show he is fit enough to rule. According to South Korea's Unification Ministry, which monitors North Korea, Kim has made 77 public appearances this year, compared with 49 during the same period last year.
