Kim to head ruling coterie in shift from dictatorship

NORTH KOREA will shift to collective rule from a strongman dictatorship after last week’s death of Kim Jong-il, although his untested young son will be at the head of the ruling coterie, a source with close ties to Pyongyang and Beijing said.

The source added that the military, which is trying to develop a nuclear arsenal, has pledged allegiance to the untested Kim Jong-un, who takes over the family dynasty that has ruled North Korea since it was founded after the Second World War.

The source declined to be identified, but has correctly predicted key events in the past, telling Reuters about the North’s first nuclear test in 2006 before it took place.