SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea’s new leadership under the inexperienced Kim Jong-un appears to be functioning “relatively smoothly,” but he has to look beyond key ally China to rebuild its shattered economy, South Korea’s senior most official on the North said on Monday.
Unification Minister Yu Woo-ik told Reuters that despite Kim Jong-il’s sudden death last month, the secretive North had clearly been well prepared for the handover to a third generation of the Kim family.
“The succession of power has been stable and well prepared,” Yu said in an interview.
“It’s difficult to predict the future, but for the time being it is likely they will focus on consolidating power internally and to appear stable to the outside world.”
Rumors swirled in markets this month about a possible coup in North Korea, but the South dismissed them as groundless. Yu said on Monday the new leadership appeared to be stable.
He, however, said that given Kim’s age — he is believed to be in his late 20s — and inexperience there remained questions about whether he could do “the job right.”
“But having lived as a successor in a regime like North Korea itself is a significant experience. He may be young, but age should
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