ACKNOWLEDGMENT

China Endorses Kim Jong-un

Formally recognizes youngest son as successor.

China formally recognized Kim Jong-un, Kim Jong-il’s youngest son and chosen successor, as the next leader of North Korea, the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced Tuesday. Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said the Chinese government believes that North Korea will rally around the ruling Workers’ Party and the man he called “Comrade Kim Jong-un.” While Weimin said he does not know whether Jong-un will visit China, he said Beijing would welcome him. Meanwhile, South Korea showed few signs of caring about Kim Jong-il’s death, despite the lengthy mourning in the North. For South Koreans, Kim Jong-il’s death only further proved the point that the two nations now share only a peninsula and a language.