Spy chief says policy failures dealt blow to N. Korea's heir apparent

SEOUL, June 22 (Yonhap) -- A series of policy blunders in North Korea have dealt a blow to the North Korean leader's heir apparent son Kim Jong-un, a ruling party lawmaker said Wednesday, citing Seoul's spy chief.
The North carried out a currency reform in 2009 but it is believed to have caused strong public backlash as it led to massive inflation and worsened food shortages.
The impoverished country has also dramatically cut its goal of building 100,000 houses by next year, the centennial of the birth of Kim Il-sung, the country's late founder and grandfather of Kim Jong-un.
Kim's "leadership has been undermined as he failed in the currency reform and built only 500 houses, though he planned to build 100,000," ruling party lawmaker Hwang Jin-ha said, citing Won Sei-hoon, head of the National Intelligence Service.
Won's reported comments at a closed-door parliamentary session come amid apparent efforts by North Korean leader Kim Jong-il to extend his family dynasty into a third generation since he suffered a stroke in 2008.
He named his youngest son, Jong-un, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the North's ruling Workers' Party and a four-star general last year in the clearest sign yet to make him the next leader.
The succession, if made, would mark communism's second hereditary power transfer. The elder Kim inherited power from his father, who died in 1994.