Pyongyang politics

By Michael J.W. Stickings

In case you care:

North Korea has reshuffled its top leadership at a rare second session of its parliament, state media says.

Top leader Kim Jong-il attended the session, KCNA news agency said, after missing the previous one on 9 April.

Choe Yong-rim replaced Kim Yong-il as premier -- the official responsible for the communist state's economic policy.

State media also said that Mr Kim's brother-in-law, Chang Song-taek, was promoted to a powerful military post on the National Defence Commission.

Mr Chang is thought to be a backer of a hereditary succession involving Mr Kim's youngest son, Kim Jong-un.

Fascinating, in a way, insofar as it possibly has to so with succession plans, that is, with Kim planning for the post-Kim era by making sure his own people are in the right places.

Obviously, though, it would be for the best, not least for the brutalized North Korean people, if Kim's awful regime were to be obliterated, wiped off the face of the earth, somehow.

In the meantime, here's hoping North Korea gets crushed at the World Cup. (Though I'm sure the state-run media will find some excuse to explain away the crushing.)