Pyongyang, Jan 18 Former North Korean leader Kim Jong il’s eldest son has predicted that the new regime will not last long, with or without reforms, under the rule of his half brother Kim Jong Un.

According to a new book, Kim Jong Nam described Kim Jong Un’s succession as “a joke to the outside world”, and added that his father had originally opposed the hereditary transfer of power.

“The Kim Jong-un regime will not last long. Without reforms, North Korea will collapse, and when such changes take place, the regime will collapse,” Kim Jong-nam is said to have written.

“I think we will see valuable time lost as the regime sits idle fretting over whether it should pursue reforms or stick to the present political structure,” he added.

The claims emerge in a book written by Yoji Gomi, a journalist with Tokyo Shimbun, who said he exchanged emails with Kim Jong-nam over seven years, The Guardian reports.

According to the paper, in one message, Kim Jong-nam remarked that he is “concerned how Jong-un, who merely resembles my grandfather [former North Korean leader Kim Il-sung], will be able to satisfy the needs of North Koreans.”

“Kim Jong-un is still just a nominal figure and the members of the power elite will be the ones in actual power,” he said.

Kim Jong-nam also said that his father did not want power to pass to the third generation, but decided that the bloodline was needed to maintain the regime''s stability. (ANI)