SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 14 (UPI) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates says North Korea's recent aggression could come from Kim Jong-il's third son and apparent hand-picked successor.
Gates, in a speech Thursday in San Francisco, said Kim Jong-un "has to earn his stripes with the Korean military," The New York Times reported. He suggested that is why North Korean sank a South Korean naval vessel in March, an action Pyongyang denies.
The secretary said U.S. officials fear more provocative actions from North Korea. Other countries have limited leverage with the secretive regime, and China, its closest ally, fears a complete economic or political breakdown that would create a flood of refugees, the Times said.
Jonathan Pollack of the Naval War College in Rhode Island said that when Kim Jong-il succeeded his father, Kim Il-sung, the handover was marked by increased aggression from the north. The transition took about 10 years,
"But remember, we don't even know what the kid looks like, or even exactly how old he is," Pollack said. "So this is a mix of intelligence and speculation, like everything else in North Korea."
Kim Jong-un is believed to be in his late 20s and is known to have gone to school in Switzerland for a brief period as a teenager.
