Beside the car walked the dead dictator’s son and successor Kim Jong-un. Just 27, he looked overwhelmed. He broke down in tears several times during the ceremony.
Directly behind Kim walked his uncle Chang Song-thaek, considered to be the second most powerful man in North Korea. On the other side walked army Chief of Staff Ri Yong-ho and Defence Minister Kim Yong-chun.
These were the old men who would now wield power in Pyongyang. Or so many thought.
In the 1950s Kim Jong-un’s grandfather Kim Il-sung created something unique in the communist world - North Korea’s one-man hereditary leadership.
For nearly two decades Kim groomed his eldest son Kim Jong-il to succeed him. Wherever he went, the crown prince was at his side. In 1994, when the old man died, Kim Jong-il immediately took charge. But when he then died suddenly in 2011 his own son had barely begun his apprenticeship to become North Korea’s third Supreme Leader. Many experts now predicted the collapse of one-man-rule. They were soon to be proved wrong.
Within months Chief of Staff Ri Yong-ho and Defence Minister Kim Yong-chun had both been dismissed. Ri’s whereabouts remain a mystery to this day.
Then in December 2013 Kim Jong-un made his most dramatic move. His own uncle, Chang Song-thaek, was hauled from a party meeting, accused of treason and executed, with some unconfirmed reports even suggesting an anti-aircraft gun had been used.
Between 2012 and 2016 Kim carried out the biggest purge seen in North Korea since the days of his grandfather. South Korea’s Institute for National Security Strategy has reported the execution of 140 senior military officers and government officials. Another 200 have been removed or imprisoned.
Kim has removed anybody who stood in his way, replacing them with a younger cadre loyal to him. They are led by his own sister Kim Yo-jong, who in 2017 was appointed to the Politburo at the age of 30.
Today no-one is in doubt who pulls the levers of power in Pyongyang. Kim Jong-un is the Supreme Leader.
