There has been various reactions to the news that North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il has shuffled off his mortal coil. The North Korean Central News Agency announced the news with one of their customary over the top performances.
The issues that arise from the transition of power in North Korea are clearly very serious, given the spectre of political instability in an insular, paranoid nation that possesses an atomic weapon. The issue of instability in the North is always a troubling one for South Korea. The idea that the Korean Peninsula will someday reunify, is one South Koreans hope for, yet in practice the idea of the border between North and South coming down, is a problematic one for South Korea.
North Korea is for all intents and purposes a sealed bubble. The image of the Korean Peninsula taken from the International Space Station tells the story. You see the vast web of lights that outline South Korea, and the pitch dark outline of the North with one pinprick of light being the Capital Pyongyang. North Korea exists with the vast majority of its population knowing only what they have been told by the Government.
Now imagine for a moment, waking up one day and finding out that everything you have ever been told, taught or believed about the world was in fact, completely wrong. Now times that by twelve million people, and you see the dilemma reunification poses for the South. Unlike with Germany, Korean reunification would create a refugee crisis on a biblical scale, almost over night.
I remember my first visit to the border area between the two Koreas (the "DMZ") . It was in 1997. It was , as you might imagine, a unique experience. It remains essentially the last remaining front of the Cold War. It will be fascinating to watch the transition of Power there. Kim's appointed successor is his third son Kim Jon Eun, who is in his twenties, but was recently made a four star General in the North Korean military.
It is in everyone's interest that the two Koreas reconcile peacefully. The late Kim Jong il was nothing if not unique. His flamboyant personal style and odd personality traits made him an easy target for comedy. The greatest example of course, being "South Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, who used Kim as central villian for their movie "Team America - World Police". Giving the "dear leader" his own moment in cinematic history, and a song to go with it.
So we bid farewell to the "dear leader" with a look back at his moment of movie musical glory.
The issues that arise from the transition of power in North Korea are clearly very serious, given the spectre of political instability in an insular, paranoid nation that possesses an atomic weapon. The issue of instability in the North is always a troubling one for South Korea. The idea that the Korean Peninsula will someday reunify, is one South Koreans hope for, yet in practice the idea of the border between North and South coming down, is a problematic one for South Korea.
Now imagine for a moment, waking up one day and finding out that everything you have ever been told, taught or believed about the world was in fact, completely wrong. Now times that by twelve million people, and you see the dilemma reunification poses for the South. Unlike with Germany, Korean reunification would create a refugee crisis on a biblical scale, almost over night.
It is in everyone's interest that the two Koreas reconcile peacefully. The late Kim Jong il was nothing if not unique. His flamboyant personal style and odd personality traits made him an easy target for comedy. The greatest example of course, being "South Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, who used Kim as central villian for their movie "Team America - World Police". Giving the "dear leader" his own moment in cinematic history, and a song to go with it.
So we bid farewell to the "dear leader" with a look back at his moment of movie musical glory.
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