organizational and propaganda affairs, Kim Jong Il also sought to place his own youthful "trusties" in the KPA hierarchies. Between 1975 and 1979, he asserted himself forcefully in trying to "imbue" the KPA with the philosophy of self-reliance--apparently antagonizing some of the KPA veterans who regarded his "intrusiveness" as incompatible with military discipline and professionalism.8 By 1980 (when the junior Kim was formally presented to the world as second in command) and certainly by April 1985, the KPA had supported Kim Jong Il, prompting one analyst to suggest that it had become "Kim Jong Il's private army"; the following year, Kim Il Sung let it be known that "the leadership succession issue was brilliantly solved." In 1990, Kim junior assumed the senior vice chairmanship of the National Defense Committee, became the KPA's commander-in-chief in December 1991, a marshal of the army in April 1992, and the chairman of the National Defense Committee in April 1993. Grand Marshal Kim Il Sung and Marshal Kim Jong Il are joined by defense minister Marshal O Jin U to make up the three-member presidium of the party political bureau. This means the fusion of power at the top, potentially blurring functional boundaries between the KPA and the party and possibly skewing policy decisions toward military options.9 Under Kim Jong Il, the KPA in the short run seems likely to have a preferential claim to state resources. Some analysts say this now amounts to one-third of annual budget outlays, or as much as a quarter of Pyongyang's gross national product. In the yearly battles over resource allocation, the military has always prevailed, presumably because of its primary mission. But that does not tell the whole story. The KPA's economic role is considerable. It is called on to provide the bulk of the labor force for major state construction projects. More importantly, arms sales controlled by the KPA have accounted for an estimated $500 million a...
