November 17, 2004
WON'T HAVE KIM TO KICK AROUND ANYMORE:
Kim's portraits go missing in N Korea (AFP, 11/18/04)
Hardliners have tightened their political grip on North Korea while Mr Kim has retreated into virtual seclusion after the death of his favourite consort from cancer. [...]Information concerning the 63-year-old ruler's health is considered a state secret.
Reports, however, said his family doctor was detained in Beijing recently after fleeing his communist homeland while South Korean media said the woman believed to Mr Kim's wife died after a long battle with breast cancer in August.
The removal of the portraits could signal a possible political struggle at the top, said Mr David Zweig, a political scientist and a close watcher of North Korean issues at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
'It means one of two things,' Mr Zweig said. 'Either he is cutting back on his cult of personality, which seems rather strange, or if more of it happens, maybe it means someone has moved against him.'
Besides the missing portraits of the leader, the police presence on Pyongyang streets appeared to be unusually tense, the diplomat said. The police were inspecting more cars and checking identifications of pedestrians.
Diplomats and aid officials in Pyongyang noticed the first signs of a clampdown when some members of their North Korean staff were abruptly reassigned to new jobs and others became more nervous than usual about discussing current affairs.
Restrictions had been imposed on foreigners' movements, they said.
London's Sunday Times reported that telephones used by foreign residents have been cut off and the secret police have assumed control of the country's handphone service.
The opacity of their society makes it especially hard to tell what's going on, but it does appear to be deeper than just the portraits mentioned yesterday.
Posted by Orrin Judd at November 17, 2004 6:35 PM
Wow. What a let down for us bloodthirsty Hawks. What fun is it if all our biggest enemies just die on their own and we don't get to have a war to kill or depose them? sheesh.
Posted by: John Resnick at November 17, 2004 7:24 PMHehe, Mr. Resnick is right; that Kim Jong Il sure outsmarted us Americans.
Of course, now we see what we did wrong with Osama bin Laden: we made such a point that he was probably dead, that the best way for him to show us up was appear in a video, which he did. Now it's clear we should have said, "You watch out, Osama; we're definitely going to get you before you die of, say, camel trampling!" Within moments OBL would've been displayed getting trampled to death, thus "showing us up"!
Posted by: Just John at November 17, 2004 7:37 PMmaybe it means someone has moved against him
More than that, wouldn't it mean that someone has successfully moved against him? You wouldn't want to order portraits of a dictator removed unless you were sure he couldn't retaliate, right?
Maybe somebody in North Korea decided that after Team America: World Police they couldn't stand having a leader who was an object of mockery.
Posted by: PapayaSF at November 17, 2004 9:06 PMSupposedly it's the hardliners who moved.
Posted by: oj at November 17, 2004 9:13 PM"Dear Leader" has ordered new portraits of himself to be prepared. They will be in place soon. News of his death is no more than wishful western propaganda.
Posted by: Phil at November 17, 2004 9:15 PMOJ: You mean that all this time Kim Jong-Il was a moderate and I never noticed? What's next, Castro overthrown by "hardliners" who think he's not Communist enough?
Phil: Why would an image-conscious dictator with a cult of personality have his old pics taken down before the new ones were ready?
Posted by: PapayaSF at November 17, 2004 9:55 PMIf he is mortal, the Chinese may be forced to act.
Posted by: Robert Schwartz at November 17, 2004 10:07 PMIf Kim Jung Il does die, it's nice of him to do it while relatively young, and not make us wait another fifteen years, unlike Castro.
The best that can be said of Kim Jung Il is that he wasn't (isn't ?) as bad as Hitler, Stalin, or Pol Pot. It's too bad that there probably isn't a lake of flames waiting for this lunatic in the afterlife.
Posted by: Michael Herdegen at November 18, 2004 12:10 AMOn the plus side, any removal of Kim Jong Il will present an opportunity for a bold move. Say in return for denuclearization (with necessary safeguards to insure compliance) and a reduction of armed troops on the border, we offer a peace treaty, full diplomatic relations, a removal of troops, and trade. None of our concessions actually affect our security, and we appear to be the good guys.
Other than the nuke issue, N Korea is no longer important to us.
Posted by: Chris Durnell at November 18, 2004 12:14 AMI want to see what a "hardliner" is when you're comparing them to Kim Il Jong. Anyone who supposedly can make Kim seem like a moderate has got to be so far out in left field they're not even in the stadium anymore (though if it's true we may not have to wait too long before we get the opportunity to permanently solve the North Korean problem).
Posted by: John at November 18, 2004 12:53 AM
What could you do to be more hard-line than the Dear Leader? Make everyone jump up and down on pogo sticks in unison? Take away people's last blades of wild grass and send out missives concerning the nutritional value of 'Rock Soup'(it's full of minerals)? Put everybody taller than you in a prison camp, or beat them in the head with a sledgehammer until they are shorter?
Posted by: Bart at November 18, 2004 7:33 AMPapayaSF:
My portrait comment was meant as humor.
My fear is that there's a power struggle taking place behind the scenes. Kim may very well be in a state of despair and depression, and those around him are undoubtedly taking advantage of the situation. Much good will probably come once the dust settles, but there's going to be a nasty storm first.
Posted by: Phil at November 18, 2004 10:31 AM