【华尔街日报12.20】金正日逝世 首尔领导人寻求稳定

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Seoul Leaders Seek Stability in Wake of Dictator's Death

   
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                                                 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204058404577110162015214708.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
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                                                                                                                Reuters               

New North Korean ruler Kim Jong Eun paid respects Tuesday to his father and former leader Kim Jong Il.

            


SEOUL—The sudden death of Kim Jong Il has sent South Korean politicians scrambling Tuesday to offer plans to deal with the potentially volatile power transition in North Korea, while China offered more support for its troublesome neighbor and invited its leaders to visit Beijing.
In Seoul, the announcement of Mr. Kim's death a day earlier prompted a rare outbreak of cross-party unity as the main opposition party ended a boycott of Parliament and said it supported the government's call for stable relations with Pyongyang. Underlying the display of unity is a deep nervousness in South Korea that the rapid ascent of North Korea's new leader Kim Jong Eun could mark a new period of instability on the peninsula.
North Korea offered no further information Tuesday on its power transition but broadcast footage of Kim Jong Il in a glass coffin at Pyongyang's Kumsusan Memorial Palace. Dressed in his standard khaki jumpsuit, Mr. Kim's body was partially covered by a red flag and surrounded by wreaths of flowers. Kim Jong Eun was shown leading a delegation of mourners.
                                                                Reuters               

The body of Kim Jong Il lied in state at the Kumsusan Memorial Palace in Pyongyang on Tuesday.

            


The state funeral for Kim Jong Il is scheduled for Dec. 28. North Korea has said no foreign delegations will be accepted.
Of particular concern in Seoul is that the youthful and unproven Mr. Kim may be looking for an opportunity to rally support for his leadership by staging a military strike on South Korea. After two attacks on South Korea last year that killed 50 people, relations between the Koreas remain tense but stable, without any further loss of life this year.
To remove a potential flashpoint, South Korea's cabinet decided Tuesday it wouldn't allow church groups to illuminate three large Christmas-tree shaped towers near the North Korean border. The giant towers, located about two miles from the border and visible from the North Korean town of Kaesong, were scheduled to be illuminated on Friday.
The plan drew scathing criticism from North Korea, which warned of "unexpected consequences," code for a military response. North Korea views the illuminations as a South Korean effort to spread religion in the atheist North.
One of the towers was lit last year for the first time since 2004 without a physical response by North Korea despite threats.
South Korea's intelligence agency also is pressuring an activist group that regularly floats helium balloons into North Korea carrying antiregime leaflets to stop a planned dispatch of balloons on Wednesday.
"I am so enraged. I got a call from NIS [National Intelligence Service] and they warned me to stop the plan to send balloons tomorrow. They are saying it is too sensitive and dangerous a time to do that," said North Korean defector Park Sang-hak, leader of activist group Fighters for Free North Korea.
Mr. Park said the balloon flight Wednesday would go ahead.
Meanwhile, as a precaution in case of conflict on the Korean peninsula, Seoul said it was strengthening monitoring its oil and gas supplies, and was ready to take emergency measures, such as the release of strategic oil reserves if needed.
The public anxiety in South Korea over the dynastic change in North Korea is more pronounced than in the North's bigger neighbor, China, although their interests align in seeking to avoid a sudden deterioration of security in the region or outflow of refugees caused by instability in North Korea.
Beijing's approach is to publicly boost the North Korean regime. China issued more statements of support Tuesday for North Korea and Kim Jong Eun, while Chinese President Hu Jintao offered his condolences at the North Korean embassy in Beijing. Top officials who accompanying Mr. Hu included Vice President Xi Jinping, who is widely expected to succeed Mr. Hu in a once-a-decade leadership change in China next year.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said China's Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi spoke by phone with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan over North Korea's leadership succession.
Mr. Liu also invited North Korean leaders to visit China, though he didn't confirm whether Kim Jong Eun was among those invited.