A palace coup in Pyongyang? Not quite. But the whisper networks in Whitehall are alive with a startling claim: Kim Jong Un’s grip on power is not as absolute as the propaganda suggests. Sources within British intelligence have disclosed that a decades-old secret lineage within the Kim family has been exposed, revealing a succession crisis that could rattle the regime.
The leak, passed through diplomatic backchannels, suggests that Kim’s uncle, Kim Pyong Il, exiled in Europe since the 1990s, maintains a network of loyalists inside the Korean Workers’ Party. More intriguing, a cache of documents obtained by MI6 reportedly details a succession plan favouring a half-brother, Kim Jong-nam’s son, who has been living under a false identity in Hong Kong. The regime’s vaunted stability suddenly looks like a house of cards.
Westminster’s Korea watchers are scrambling. One former foreign office mandarin described it as “the most significant intelligence breakthrough since the Libya files”. But is it a genuine crack, or a disinformation operation? The timing is suspicious. The leak coincides with Kim’s purge of a senior military aide last week.
Downing Street has declined to comment, but sources close to the National Security Council confirm an emergency meeting was held late last night. The UK’s unofficial position has long been to manage North Korean collapse scenarios quietly. Now, the game board has shifted.
The question being asked in the Lobby bars is not whether the regime is vulnerable, but who is playing whom. If the Kim dynasty truly has a rival claimant, Russia and China will be watching even more closely than we are. Watch this space. The whispers are getting louder.
