SEOUL, Aug. 27 (UPI) -- A flurry of recent reports about North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's mistress has rekindled interest in many mysteries about this "royal family" and who would be the next leader of the hermit kingdom.
South Korean news reports say Ko Yong Hi, who is believed to be Kim's current wife, has recently died after a long battle with breast cancer.
Chosun Ilbo, South Korea's largest newspaper, said that Ko apparently succumbed to her long illness after returning home from Paris earlier this year, where she was treated for cancer.
North Korea recently purchased an "extremely expensive" coffin from France and transported it to Pyongyang aboard a specially chartered flight, news reports said. The purchase of the custom-tailored coffin is most likely related to the death of the North Korean first lady.
Other South Korean major dailies, such as Hankyoreh and Munhwa, also quoted multiple Chinese sources that Ko had passed away. "The Chinese authorities seemed to have information about Ko's death," Munhwa Ilbo said, citing sources in Beijing.
South Korean officials said they were struggling to confirm persistent reports. "We are currently trying to confirm whether she is really dead or not," a government official said. The country's spy agency, the National Intelligence Service declined to make any comments on the reports.
But former South Korean Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun, who stepped down in June, told parliament last October that Ko was suffering from a "serious illness."
Information relating to the family of Kim is a closely guarded secret in the communist country and its state-controlled media do not release any news concerning the family.
According to a South Korean businessman who has a rare access to North Korea's government, the North's recent restriction on a local telephone service in Pyongyang seemed aimed at preventing "possible leaks of information" concerning Ko's death. Telephone lines in foreign embassies and news organizations in Pyongyang have been cut off since Monday.
In another move against information leakage, North Korea has banned entry of foreign tourists, including Chinese, from the middle of this month, citing a "domestic situation." It is rare for North Korea to suspend visits from China, the friendliest supporter and a staunch communist ally of North Korea.
Kim Jong Il has disappeared from public view since he made an inspection tour of military unit on Aug. 17, fueling speculation about the death of his wife.
The life of the 51-year-old North Korean mistress has so far been shrouded in mystery. Born in Japan, Ko was a former prima donna of Pyongyang's premier Mansudae song-and-dance troupe. Koh, a daughter of a Korean emigrant to Japan, came to North Korea in the 1960s for settlement, according to South Korean intelligence sources.
It is unclear whether Kim officially married Ko. Kim is believed to have married three times. His former wife Song Hae Rim died in 2002 in Moscow.
If confirmed, Ko's death could cause a power struggle over who will be the next leader of the isolated country, analysts in Seoul say.
Ko gave birth to Kim Jong Il's second son, Jong Chol, 23, and third son Jong Un, 21. They are competing with their 33-year-old half-brother -- Jong Nam, son of Song Hae Rim -- over the country's top leadership.
Many analysts say Ko's first son, Jong Chol is most likely to succeed his father because North Korea has recently glorified Ko, calling her "respected mother" and "great woman," an apparent move to pave the way for father-to-son power inheritance.
Ko's portraits have recently been displayed at the North's military units as part of efforts to promote the personality cult for the first lady, according to Seoul's intelligence officials.
"The personality cult for Ko is considered as a prelude to appointing her son as the crown price to pave the way for her son's future rein," said Cheong Seong-chang, a North Korea specialist at Seoul's private Sejong Institute.
The North made a similar campaign to idolize Kim Jong Il's mother, Kim Jong Suk, as "Comrade of Revolution," when he was earmarked to inherit the power of his father and national founder Kim Il Sung. Kim Jong Il rules the country with an intense personality cult, as his father did for five decades.
Jong Chol has recently been named to succeed one of important post held by his father -- the chief of the Organization-Guidance Department of the ruling Workers' Party -- an indication of his imminent appointment as an anointed prince.
Kim Jong Nam has been largely considered out of contention since Japanese authorities caught him attempting to enter Japan illegally in May 2001, an act that caused Pyongyang severe diplomatic embarrassment.
But some North Korea watchers see high possibility that Jong Nam would inherit the power because he is the eldest son of Kim Jong Il. North Korea, a deeply Confucian country, honors seniority.
According to intelligence sources, a power struggle exists between those backing Kim Jong Chol, and others supporting Jong Nam.
Hwang Jang-yop, North Korea's highest-ranking defector who is the chief architect of the North's ruling ideology of juche (self-reliance), warned that the dynastic character of the regime, which is focused on guaranteeing succession rather than permitting an inflow of democratic elements, would lead to the collapse of the isolated kingdom.
"The fall of the totalitarian regime led by Kim Jong Il is deemed imminent as a result of the father-to-son power succession that blocks any inflow of democratic movements," Hwang said.
