North Korea’s Leader Still Gone
Kim Jong-Il, leader of the communist country of North Korea, has yet to make a comeback. He disappeared from the national and international stage more than a month ago, and missed some of the most important national holidays of his country.
Chinese, South Korean and American analysts believed he had suffered a stroke. North Korea, however, denied anything was wrong with its leader.
He disappeared from the national stage 50 days ago now. Never before did he disappear for such a long period, indicating that something is indeed wrong.
It is highly likely that he did indeed suffer a stroke, and that he is still recovering from it. This should remind those interested in the region, Western politicians and, of course, North Korean leaders that his life and rule will come to an end eventually. Whether he will die this year, or next year, or even five years from now, in the end, he will die and have to be replaced by someone else.
The way North Korea’s military and political leaders reacted to Kim Jong Il’s illness - I’m assuming the reports to be correct - indicates that they will not panic when he does indeed die. Rather, it seems, they will be able to keep the country under control and prevent it from suddenly collapsing. This is good news for a chaotic North Korea could cause tremendous problems for the entire regions.
Having said that, it has been made clear in recent weeks that Kim’s successors may very well be more hawkish than he.
Conclusion; it’s probably better for the region if the horrific dictators lives for a couple more years.
Sometimes I wonder if this whole Korean situation should come to a head and just get it over with so our kids don’t have to live with this specter. No one of sane mind wants another halocaust but that it may well be, but what is going on now to some extent anyway? North Korea would lose a war with the South if only those two were involved but common sense says more than just they would be involved. I wonder what kind of fancy diplomatic footwork would be required to get China to live comfortably next to a Unified Korean peninsula under the current Southern government?