hankyoreh

By Lee Soon-hyuk

The death of Kim Jong-il brings the insular nature of the North Korean regime and the casual approach of the South Korean government some relief.
North Korea behaved characteristically in providing news of Kim's death 52 hours after the fact, while Seoul was befuddled and hit with the news without any preparation. This left some observers pointing out shortcomings in Seoul’s intelligence-gathering abilities.
North Korean television networks issued repeated announcements about a "special broadcast" between 10 am and noon Monday. The only previous collective announcement of special broadcasts had come at the
time of Kim Il-sung's death. The general view among analysts was that the two days between Kim's death and the announcement were used for internal steps to ease the path toward the Kim Jong-un regime.
Meanwhile, the South Korean government went more than two days without any knowledge of the situation. As it happened, a gathering was held Monday morning at the Cheong Wa Dae to celebrate President Lee Myung-bak's 71st birthday and 41st wedding anniversary. Minister of National Defense Kim Kwan-jin was on his way to the National Assembly when he abruptly returned to the Ministry of Unification. The ministry, the agency in charge of inter-Korean affairs, responded casually to the special broadcast announcement, saying it would "probably be about the results of negotiations with Washington in Beijing, the six-party talks, or a warning about lighting Christmas trees on the front lines."
Observers said it did not appear that the National Intelligence Service and Defense Intelligence Command had provided any intelligence on Kim's death to the government. This had some observers raising questions about whether the North Korean intelligence systems at intelligence agencies are functioning adequately.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]