His elevation to leadership of one of the world's most secretive and dangerous regimes was the subject of speculation and rumour around the globe.
But now it has emerged that Kim Jong-un, the podgy 28-year-old who took the helm of North Korea after his father died last year is also the subject of clandestine gossip within his own insulated state.
In secret telephone conversations with activist groups based in democratic South Korea, residents of the North have revealed their own doubts about the man anointed as the Great Successor and Supreme Commander, despite all the revolutionary rhetoric with which they are bombarded.
"He is a four-star general aged 28," observed a trader, Im Seong-taek. "When did he do his time in the army to get those stars? It's nonsense."
A farmer in the far north of the country said: "He doesn't seem to be much use. A young person with his belly sticking out looks lazy."
Such comments are the fruits of a growing effort by South Koreans - often aided by defectors from the North who have made their way to Seoul, the capital of the South, by circuitous routes - to use gradually spreading mobile telephone technology to find out what North Koreans really think. » | Andrew Salmon, Seoul | Sunday, April 08, 2012
The names of all North Koreans in this report have been changed to protect their identities.
