Kim Jong Il

[hyperpape]

He went to school in Switzerland, where he was almost certainly exposed to many western ideas. Suppose Kim Jong-Un had significantly different views than his father. It might not be healthy to express them.

Western Ideas are seriously overrated. To my knowledge his father too was pretty much exposed to western ideas and liquors, this doesn't make him less of a dictator. I mean, where does this irrational love for reformer-dictators who saw school in Switzerland or studied at the LSE come from?

For me, the contrast is "not North-Korean". Japan would do just as well as Switzerland (heck, Chinese education would be liberal and open-minded in comparison to North Korea). Obviously there are many authoritarians who went to school in the West and got nothing out of it. But it's at least exposure to something outside of the North Korean ideology.

[nagano]

Unfortunately, Kim Jong Eun's profile in the Wall Street Journal reminds me of Ivan the Terrible.

[Joaz Banbeck]

North Korea will admit delegations from the South that wish to visit Pyongyang to express their condolences following the death of the leader Kim Jong Il, according to a statement posted on a government website run by the North.
...
After Pyongyang announced on Monday the death of Kim, the dictator who had ruled the secretive dictatorship since 1994, Seoul has made a number of gestures as it tries to navigate the uncertainty created by the North's leadership transition...
Seoul expressed its sympathy to the North Korean people through a statement on Tuesday. South Korea also said that while it would not send an official delegation to the North, it would allow a limited number of private groups to send delegations to the North if desired...

The recent moves have been considered a break from the hardline approach to the North that President Lee Myung-bak of South Korea had taken since coming into office in 2008. They contrast with Seoul's reaction to the death of North Korea's founder, Kim Il Sung, in 1994 when the conservative South Korean government at the time did not offer its condolences.

[Elfie85]

Alright its 11 am currently in N. Korea...

Its almost time for that "special" broadcast...

I am highly interested in what it will be about....

Considering the current state of politics around the world...

and the ever looming doom of economic collapse...

What is N. Korea up to now?!

[TKP]

I think if you asked the Korean people on both the north and south sides of the Demilitarized Zone (one of the most highly militarized places on earth) the answer would be reunification. The handful of Korean people I know through playing go have family on both sides.

[rubin427]

I usually don't mention news coming out of North Korea, but (from my point of view) this is worth repeating.

North Korea agrees to suspend nuclear activities, US says

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/feb/29/north-korea-suspend-nuclear-tests-us

[oren]

Again?

[aokun]

Again?

I believe they suspend their nuclear program the second and fourth Wednesdays of months containing "R." You can look up the dates in your Farmer's Almanac.

[Joaz Banbeck]

I usually don't mention news coming out of North Korea, but (from my point of view) this is worth repeating.

North Korea agrees to suspend nuclear activities, US says

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/feb/29/north-korea-suspend-nuclear-tests-us

IMHO, the most significant part of the above mentioned article is this:

...US will finalise details with North Korea for a proposed package of 240,000 metric tonnes of food aid...

As I noted earlier in this thread, the new leader is worried about not only coups, but general insurrection. He is trying to make sure that the peasantry does not start food riots which could lead to his demise.

[CSamurai]

That's a fairly broad strokes statement, which misses some of the subtlety of this move.

The food aid is in a form (biscuits if I recall correctly) which makes it seem aimed mostly at small children, not exactly the revolting classes. For much of the citizenry of Korea, this food aid will have little impact.

But, it is a good political message. Both at home for him, and abroad, Kim Jong Un has, with this maneuver, cost himself little (A nuclear weapon program has few benefits for Korea) and sent a political message that he wants to work with western countries. At the same time, he didn't lose much face at home, because he can point to benefits earned, and possible sanction talks later on.

It's not a revolution stopper, but it is a way to back down from the traditional brinksmanship that characterized his father's rule, allowing him, as well, to set himself apart in the hearts and minds of people both at home and abroad.

In short, it's a really elegant movement. I have to wonder, after seeing this, if Un plays Go.