(Image Source: KCTV)

BY LAUREN ZIMA

ANCHOR LAUREN ZIMA

The sudden death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has left his son, Kim Jong-un, as his successor. But what lies ahead for this young man? Until the news of his father’s death, little was known about him -- not even his exact age.

North Korea’s state-run station showed grief-stricken reactions to the news of Kim Jong-il’s death. Kim Jong-il had reportedly spent the years since his life-threatening stroke in 2008 grooming Kim Jong-un to take over the impoverished country. Kim Jong-un made his first public appearance last year and is thought to be in his late 20s. He is said to be Kim Jong-il’s choice for a successor because the former leader’s other two sons are seen as playboys.

CNN reports although Kim Jong-un was educated in Switzerland, don’t expect him to bring new ideas that will change his father’s regime.

“He’s got to prove himself to be strong, to be capable, to try and meet the people’s needs. ... The main point of this third dynastic succession is to maintain the power structure, to maintain the way North Korea is.”

Kim Jong-un’s inexperience and young age mean he has to move quickly on consolidating power for himself. Bloomberg notes -- that makes this a dangerous time, and Kim Jong-un might take drastic action.

“There is a pattern of this in totalitarian states, where sometimes they will engineer an external crisis of some kind in order to create the internal dynamic to retain hold on power. So that is possible. Last year there were a series of unprovoked attacks against South Korean civilian targets, we think for internal reasons. Something like that could happen again here.”

North Korea’s very active nuclear weapons program only makes threats like that all the more dangerous, Bloomberg said. Unconfirmed reports broke Monday morning that North Korea had tested some kind of missile. But the New York Times spoke with a specialist who said it might take years for Kim Jong-un to take those kinds of measures.

“...a specialist on North Korea … in Tokyo, said that during the new leader’s first few years, North Korea would most likely shy away from confrontation with the United States and its allies, like South Korea."

So, is it likely that Kim Jong-un won’t maintain power? The Globe and Mail says given the country’s swift propaganda -- no, and don’t expect North Korea to fall apart, either.

“Another, more favourable possibility, is that the murderous regime could collapse without its figurehead. But that possibility seems remote so long as key backer China prefers a Cold War-style standoff on the Korean Peninsula to the idea of a united, and perhaps pro-Washington, Korea at its border.”

Kim Jong-un’s first task is to oversee his father’s funeral Dec. 28th -- it is expected to be elaborate.