Kim Jung-un's Other Grandfather

As we know, the new leader of the DPRK (North Korea) is the Grandson of the Great Leader, Kim Il-sung.  Now comes Julian Ryall reporting from Tokyo for the South China Morning Post, on the other Grandfather.  It is not a pretty picture.  It appears he was
a collaborator with the Japanese.

A Japanese researcher says he has discovered that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's maternal grandfather worked for the Imperial Japanese Army during the second world war, making uniforms for soldiers whose comrades were hunting Kim's other grandfather, Kim Il-sung.

Such a lineage would technically make Kim Jong-un part of North Korea's "hostile class" and the grandson of a traitor.  That could have "a devastating impact on North Korean society", says researcher Ken

Kato, a Japanese human rights activist who discovered documentation of Kim's ancestor files in military archives in Tokyo and the library of the Japanese parliament, said his evidence that Kim's maternal grandfather—Ko Gyon-tek—was a collaborator undermines his legitimacy.

You don't care and I don't care, but if the North Korean leadership class cares it could mean a succession fight, and that could spill over and then we would care.

Forefathers and mothers—they aren't just in your genes, they are hiding in the archives.

Regards  —  Cliff