Who Would Succeed Kim Jong Un in North Korea? Look to Mount Paektu

SEOUL—For 7 a long time, North Korea’s ruling Kim family members maintained its grip on electricity with a uncomplicated conceit: no one but the Supreme Leader could rule the state.

And that chief, they insisted, needed to be a Kim, a way to hold regulate in the family members and assure fealty in a nation that’s endured famines, financial hardship and common human rights abuse. Only individuals from the “Mount Paektu bloodline,” or individuals with a direct lineage to the country’s founder Kim Il Sung, are deemed respectable successors.

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