North Korean supreme leader has a traitor in the family

[mr friendly guy]

Apparently North Korea has a rule introduced in the 70s punishing descendents of traitors for 3 generations.

Well guess what?

The 'traitor' grandfather of North Korea's leader Kim Jung-un
The grandfather of North Korea's leader worked as a collaborator with Japanese soldiers who were hunting Kim Il-sung during the Second World War, according to documents unearthed in Tokyo.

By Julian Ryall in Tokyo 8:31PM BST 08 May 2012
Kim Jung-un's maternal grandfather, Ko Gyon-tek, worked at a factory in Osaka making uniforms for the Japanese army who were hunting Kim Il-sung, the guerrilla leader and founder of the North Korean regime whose son would later marry the current dictator's mother.

Collaborating with the Japanese occupiers of Korea would normally have meant incarceration in North Korea's gulags for the traitor and his family. But Mr Ko avoided that fate after he returned to North Korea in the early 1960s thanks to his daughter being in the favour of Kim Jong-il, the son of Kim Il-sung.

Ken Kato, a human rights activist who discovered the files in Japan's military archives and the library of the country's parliament, believes they undermine Kim Jung-un's legitimacy to rule. He also believes that the dictator, who is believed to be 29, will have been unaware of his grandfather's background – which would have placed him in the lowest "hostile" class of North Korean society.

Born on Jeju Island in what is now South Korea, Mr Ko moved to Japan in 1929. His daughter, Ko Young-hee, was born in Osaka in 1953, but the family moved to North Korea in 1961 after her father was arrested by Japanese police for human trafficking and deported.
Mr Ko apparently managed to conceal his past and found work in a chemical factory, the records indicate, while his daughter began to dance with the Mansudae Art Troupe. It was as a dancer that she caught the eye of Kim Jong-il.

"There is a strict classification system that is based on pedigree in Korea," said Mr Kato. "According to North Korean philosophy, Kim Jong-un is not a suitable leader because the legitimacy of his entire regime is based on his pedigree. Under their rules, his family should have gone to concentration camps."

I wonder how the Supreme leader will react.

[evilsoup]

Well if there are any ambitious military guys who would want power for themselves, this would provide a handy bit of ammunition, I think. Outside of that possibility, I think it probably won't have any effect. Unless I'm underestimating the North Korean dedication to this philosophy (always a possibility).

[Aaron MkII]

I'm sure he'll march himself of to the gulag.

What a fucking joke.

[Sidewinder]

I've no doubt the North Korean government will denounce this report as a product of American propaganda, or bullshit like that.

[ChaserGrey]

It'll only "undermine Kim's legitimacy to rule" if someone with enough political power and/or guns feels like calling him on it. It'd make a nice causus belli for a coup, but otherwise it can just be dismissed as a forgery.

I mean, come on, everyone knows the so-called "human rights" movement is just a fabrication of Western intelligence agencies to spread lies and disinformation about the glorious regime! This "Kato" (same name as the sidekick of the decadent American Green Hornet...what are the odds of that, eh?) is obviously a CIA stooge armed with forged documents supplied by the running dog puppet Japanese government to further deceive the West about the paradise North Korean workers enjoy. It's a conspiracy!

That's assuming anyone besides very top Party members even finds out about this, which I wouldn't take for granted. This *is* North Korea we're talking about.

[Junghalli]

Elites exempting themselves from the rules they write up for the regular people when said rules conflict with their interests? Surely unprecedented.

This reminds me of B.R. Myers The Cleanest Race which says some interesting things about the relationship between North Korean and WWII-era Japanese ideology.

[Phantasee]

Wouldn't this mean Kim Jong-Il was not a legitimate ruler as well? He married the daughter of a traitor?

[Irbis]

I wonder how the Supreme leader will react.

Point one - internet began to percolate to NK some time ago, but still, only a tiny minority of urban population has it, and this particular news would be on top of things blocked by their equivalent of Great Firewall of China.

Point two - if you can convince people Obama's birth certificate is false, convincing them Supreme One's birth certificate is false is going to be easy, no dissenting voices and all that. It might become public secret among privileged minorities is my guess.

At best, it will be used as footnote if he is ever successfully couped, or in some inside power play, but seeing it undermines whole system no one will use it publicly unless the whole regime collapses as it would be moot point then anyway.

[Spekio]

Do the higher ranked people even care?
Also, since this is NK, in a event of a leak they will claim is a rumor planted by Americans.
Spoiler