ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the main elite figures and their interactions from the late 1960s to mid-1970s. After the guerrilla faction acquired hegemony in politics, it fell into internal struggle between former guerrillas and non-guerillas in the late 1960s, which ended in the former's victory. The latter were purged in the ‘Kapsan Faction Incident,’ so called because most of the purged were former members of the Kapsan Operation Committee and their allies. With the purging of the Kapsan faction, Kim Il Sung established absolute personal power. The elite system became monolithic after the Incident. Political succession was one of the primary factors that caused dramatic change in the elite system during this period. Kim Yŏng-ju first emerged as a potential successor in the mid-1960s. The Kapsan Faction Incident was partially related to competition for power succession between the Kapsan group and Kim Yŏng-ju. A purge of a military faction in 1969 was also instigated by this competition. However, Kim Yŏng-ju himself abruptly retired from politics in the early 1970s due to health problems. In his absence, Kim Il Sung’s second wife, Kim Sŏng-ae, and Kim Jong Il competed for the successor status, ultimately leading to the latter’s victory owing to former guerrillas’ support in the mid-1970s. This chapter discusses the Kapsan Faction Incident in 1967, the purge of a military faction in 1969, Kim Yŏng-ju’s political rise and fall, the competition between Kim Sŏng-ae and Kim Jong Il, and other elite issues in the personal power structure.
