North Korea’s Kim Jong-Il An Enigma To Most Of The World

He’s a recluse obsessed with his own glory but he’s portrayed as the champion of his people.

He threatens war and commands the world’s fifth largest army.

And now he may have a nuclear weapon.

Welcome to the shadowy existence of Kim Jong-Il, who may be the world’s most dangerous and unpredictable leader.

The 64-year-old North Korean dictator outraged the planet with an apparent nuclear test this weekend, leading even the few allies he has to demand sanctions and actions.

The man who heads North Korea with an iron first is a mystery not only to the outside world but his own nation.

Kim is notorious for his brutal regime, which leaves his people starving while he spends lavishly on the military. There are slave labour camps scattered throughout the country, the lifelong price of even a hint of disloyalty.

But despite his ever present iconic status, Kim lurks in the shadows. He assumed power after the death of his father, Kim Il-Sung, in 1994.

And it quickly became apparent the apple did not fall far from the tree.

The successor almost never appears in public and despite being possessed of what’s said to be a monstrous ego, his voice is almost never broadcast. He speaks mainly to the military, which is the base of his power.

There are statues and peons of praise to his greatness across his country, where he’s known as “Dear Leader”, along with other names.

The stories of his birth are as bizarre as the man himself, with North Koreans being told that when he was born, a double rainbow appeared on his birthplace of Mount Paektu and a new star suddenly began to shine in the heavens.

His philosophy may best be summed up with his own pronouncement that “Where there is love, there is hate.”
 
He’s also vain about his appearance and with good reason. He’s pudgy, short at just 5’3″, weighs 187 lbs., and wears platform shoes and a long out of date bouffant style hairdo. 

And he fancies himself a movie buff and filmmaker. But his devotion to a medium he rarely lets his own people freely see is like most of his interests – taken to extremes.

He’s known to have once successfully ordered the kidnapping of a South Korean actress he was enamoured with, holding her captive for years and forcing her to star in endless North Korea made movies, before she was finally able to escape.

He’s also believed to have an alcohol problem, not a surprise in a country where there’s no one to tell him ‘no’ to anything.

But his eccentricities are minor compared to his performance on the world stage.

It’s believed he masterminded a 1983 terrorist bombing in Myanmar that killed 17 South Korean officials, as well as the 1987 explosion of a South Korean airliner that killed 115 people.

And now he may have a nuclear weapon.

But for all his strange behaviour, Kim is no fool. He knows dangling the nuclear carrot in front of the west may be his ticket to becoming a world player and reducing the sanctions against him.

But it all comes at a heavy price and it’s paid by those who live under his brutal rule.

With the exception of those in the military, most live in indescribable poverty, barely able to feed their families. And some don’t have the basic amenities, like indoor plumbing or electricity.

As one historian noted recently, satellite photos of that part of the world home to Japan and South Korea show brightly lit cities and towns glowing at night.

The same photo shows a black hole – the place where North Korea sits alone, isolated by an eccentric with his own agenda and limits known only to him.