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CIA Head: Cheonan Related to NK Succession

Written: 2010-06-28 07:52:22Updated: 2010-06-28 10:19:01

CIA Head: Cheonan Related to NK Succession

The chief of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency says that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is laying the groundwork to hand over power to his son, Jong-un, and that the North’s attack in March on South Korea’s “Cheonan” warship may be part of that process.

On the ABC TV program “This Week,” CIA Director Leon Panetta said that intelligence shows there's a process of succession currently going on and that part of the provocations and skirmishes that are occurring are in part related to trying to establish credibility for the son, which he said makes it a dangerous period.

But Panetta said he doesn't expect the succession to result in hostilities between the two Koreas. He said that these kinds of provocations and skirmishes with the regime have been occurring for the last 40 years. He said that in the end, Pyongyang always backs away from the brink and that he thinks it will do so again in regards to the current situation.

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