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Updated Wednesday, February 16, 2011 11:23 am TWN, AFP

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Chinese official backs N. Korean succession

SEOUL -- A senior Chinese official has expressed support for the plan by North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il to transfer power eventually to his youngest son, the North's official news agency said Tuesday.

It said Meng Jianzhu, Chinese state councilor and public security minister, “warmly congratulated” Kim Jong-Il on his re-election in September as ruling communist party general secretary, and son Kim Jong-Un on his election as vice-chairman of the party's Central Military Commission.

Meng hailed “the successful solution of the issue of succession to the Korean revolution,” the news agency said in an unusual direct reference to the question of who will take over from the elder Kim.

The Chinese minister met leader Kim Monday to pass on “kind greetings” from President Hu Jintao and other officials, the agency said. He is at the start of a tour that will also take him to Laos, Singapore and Malaysia.

Meng “warmly congratulated” Kim Jong-Il on his birthday this Wednesday and presented gifts to the leader and to Jong-Un, the agency said.

China is the North's sole major ally and its economic prop.

Kim Jong-Il traveled there twice last year in what was seen partially as an attempt to secure support for Jong-Un, believed aged 27, as eventual successor.

The son was in September made a four-star general and appointed vice chairman of the party military commission, which oversees the 1.2 million-strong armed forces headed by his father.

“China expressed support and cooperation for the succession more explicitly by mentioning Kim Jong-Un by name,” said Professor Yang Moo-Jin of Seoul's University of North Korean Studies.

“Before its people, Pyongyang is flaunting strong support from its key ally China for the new father-and-son leadership,” Yang told AFP.

Leading military and security officials from the two countries held in-depth talks on issues “including the work to defend and glorify socialism”, the North's news agency said.

“China must have promised to provide the North with materials for control and surveillance over the people,” Yang said.

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