The whispers from Pyongyang have grown into a roar. MI6 analysts have circulated a fresh assessment. Kim Jong Un is hiding his mother's bloodline. Why? The question hangs over Whitehall like a fog. Succession risk is no longer theoretical. It is immediate.
Sources deep inside the intelligence community have confirmed the shift. The usual chatter about Kim's health is old news. The new concern is about what happens after. The Hermit Kingdom's dynastic succession is built on a myth. Kim Il-sung's bloodline. Pure, unquestionable, revolutionary. But Kim Jong Un's mother, Ko Yong-hui, was not from that blood. She was a dancer. A performer. A woman of 'tainted' background in the eyes of the old guard. For decades, this was an open secret. But now, Kim is actively erasing her. Deleting her from official histories. Removing her portraits. It is a purge of the past. It is also a signal.
Intelligence sources tell me this: Kim is trying to rewrite his own legitimacy. He is burying his mother's background to present a cleaner, more 'Kim Il-sung' lineage to his people. But the old guard knows. The military knows. They remember. And they talk. The question is: will they act?
The assessment from MI6 is blunt. The risk of a succession crisis has spiked. Not because Kim is dying. But because he is creating enemies. The concealment is a sign of weakness. It suggests he fears the narrative of his own blood. If the leadership contests his version of history, the state fractures. The military chooses sides. And the nuclear arsenal? That becomes the ultimate bargaining chip.
Cabinet sources are rattled. The PM has been briefed. The situation is being monitored. But there is little appetite for action. The consensus in the Foreign Office is to wait and watch. Let the internal rot do its work. But some in the backbenches are uneasy. They remember the chaos of the Arab Spring. They fear a failing state with nukes. One senior MP told me, 'Kim is playing with fire. And we are standing in the petrol station.'
The truth is, no one in Whitehall knows what a post-Kim North Korea looks like. The succession models are all built on continuity. His sister. His uncle. His brother. But none of them have the myth. The bloodline is the throne. And Kim is sawing its legs off.
The Game, as ever, is about perception. Kim thinks he is controlling it. MI6 thinks he is losing it. The gloves are off. The whispering has started. And in Pyongyang, the silence is deafening.
