`N. Korea to Prepare for Post-Kim Jong Il System Next Year`

North Korea is expected to hold general elections for its legislature in July and August to replace senior politicians with up and coming ones, preparing for an era without its supreme leader Kim Jong Il.

The forecast was made yesterday by the Institute for National Security Strategy, a subsidiary of the National Intelligence Agency, in a report.

“Certain elderly politicians will be replaced and middle-aged ones will emerge (via the elections)," the report said. "Increasingly more people who have presented economic benefits to the nation will be chosen as lawmakers.”

The report also predicted the North will create another ideology to prepare itself for a post-Kim era and its military-first ideology will gradually lose support.

Pragmatism and the "juche" ideology, or one stressing independence, will gain more support, the think tank said.

kyle@donga.com