As North Koreans face an uncertain future without Kim Jong Il, the world’s attention has now turned to his youngest son, Kim Jong Un, whom the ruling Workers’ Party has dubbed the “Great Successor.”

    WITH the sudden death of his father, Kim Jong Un went from being North Korea’s “Respected General” to “Great Successor,” a promotion for a young man virtually unknown even to the North Korean people just a year ago.

    Word of Kim Jong Il’s death, announced Monday two days after he suffered a fatal heart attack, thrusts his 20-something son in the spotlight as the future head of a nation grappling with difficult nuclear negotiations and chronic food shortages.

    Within hours of the breaking news of his father’s death, state media urged the nation’s people to rally around Kim Jong Un and to “faithfully revere” their next leader.

    The death speeds up a succession process that began in earnest a little more than a year ago — scant time to gain experience, build political clout and allay skepticism at home and abroad that he can lead a nation of 24 million. His father, by contrast, had 20 years of grooming before his father, North Korea founder Kim Il Sung, passed away in 1994.

    Kim Jong Un’s emergence in September 2010 as the anointed successor settled the question of which of Kim Jong Il’s three known sons was chosen as the third-generation leader in a family that has ruled since North Korea’s post-World War II inception in 1948.

    And his status as his father’s anointed successor has become clear over the course of the past year.

    After appointing him vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the ruling Workers’ Party, Kim Jong Il unveiled the son to the world just weeks later at a massive military parade to celebrate a key party anniversary.

    With the world’s media in attendance and transmitting live video, the young son appeared on the balcony of the Grand People’s Study Hall in a blue suit.

    Since that first glimpse of the son, North Koreans have seen him regularly on state TV, in the Pyongyang Times newspaper and in the Korean Central News Agency as he accompanied his father on trips around the country.

    Stocky and youthful, he bears more than a passing resemblance to his grandfather, Kim Il Sung, as a young man. Same chubby face with a slick pulled-back hairdo; he was even wearing the same outfit that his revered grandfather used to sport. That resemblance is exactly why he was “daddy’s favorite” from early years, according to Kenji Fujimoto, who wrote a best-selling memoir about the Kim family after serving as their chef for 13 years.

    He began appearing with his father at state events and reportedly ran the country when Kim Jong Il traveled to Russia and China.

    Kim Jong Un’s formal ascension will usher in a new era of leadership — but it remains to be seen what direction he will take the nation of 24 million people.

    North Koreans have been told Kim Jong Un graduated from Kim Il Sung Military University; speaks several foreign languages, including English; and is a whiz at computing and technology.

    But they have not been told much else. He is said to celebrate his birthday in January, but the year of his birth has not been revealed publicly. Even his name, though whispered for years, was never published in state media until the announcement in September 2010 that he had been promoted to four-star general.

    “There is a rumor that he is married, but officially we don’t know,” said Yoon Deok-ryong, who specializes in North Korean economic reform at the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy in Seoul.

    There are some hints as to what areas Kim Jong Un may favor when he formally takes power. Newly opened shops and factories churning out goods using digital technology have been favorite spots for a man said to like computers.

    In September, he spent hours at one of Pyongyang’s showcase shops, a meat and fish shop on Pothongmun Street that sells whale meat, frozen quail and kielbasa.

    A year ago, after he made his public debut, he was commonly referred to as the “Young General.”

    In recent months, signs and plaques formally acknowledging him as the next leader began appearing with the title “Respected General.”

    On Monday, the state-run Korean Central News Agency called him the “Great Successor,” and urged the people to rally around their next leader.

    Kim Jong Un is expected to lean on members of his father’s inner circle, including his aunt, Kim Jong Il’s sister Kim Kyong Hui; her husband, Jang Song Thaek; and other Kim Jong Il confidants, experts said.

    “Even though Kim Jong Un has been appointed as the successor, they may form a committee to rule the country at first,” Yoon said. “His power succession has not been completed yet.”

    There are concerns about instability due to his age and inexperience, said Narushige Michishita, an expert at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo.

    But his age may win him backing among the young policymakers of his generation who have developed a taste for cell phones and computers, he said.

    Kim Jong Un is known to have studied for a few years in Switzerland as a teen and is believed to speak some German and French as well as English, though experts caution against thinking of him as reform-minded just because he lived in the West.

    Vienna resident Joao Micaelo said he was a good friend of Kim Jong Un as a teenager, though he went by a different name then and his friends had no idea he was related to the North Korean leader.

    “He was a big fan of the Chicago Bulls. His life was basketball at that time,” Micaelo said. “I think 80 percent of our time was spent playing basketball.”

    They would watch Jackie Chan action movies, do homework and play video games. “He was a good friend. He was very quiet. He was a nice guy.”

    Another former classmate at the Steinhoelzli school in the Berne suburb of Liebefeld said: “He was funny. Always good for a laugh.”

    (SD-Agencies)