MishpishKim Jong-il: The secretive playboy with nuclear missiles and a hatred for japanese cars
March 1st 2007 03:29
He's been called a charming playboy and a ruthless dictator, but no one really knows too much about North Korea's leader Kim Jong-il.
A story was run by South Korea's Yonhap news agency last week stating that Kim ordered all Japanese cars be seized. The decision was made after he saw a broken down Japanese car blocking a road. Most cars in the country are Japanese, so it's hard to say how this one will work out. The ruling also comes after Japan increased sanctions following nuclear missile tests.
So what do we know about this living caraciture? Here are a few facts:
He's referred to as the 'Dear Leader' and was mythically said to be born in a log cabin at his father's guerilla base on North Korea's highest mountain in Feb 1942. In fact he was born in Siberia in 1941 during his father's exile in the former Soviet Union.
He came into power in 1994 when his father, Kim Il Sung, died. No one knew much, saw much, or heard much about him beforehand.
With his extraordinary hair style and looks, there were rumours circulating that he was a big playboy who liked to live it up. Not really the case. He's apparently very charismatic and very astute. He thinks of himself as technologically advanced in a country where email or internet access is scarce (he has one of course). He apparently only sleeps four hours a night and likes to work through the night.
A quote from the NY Times says it best:
Back in the summer of 2000 Kim held talks with South Korea's president Choe. Over a diplomatic dinner, Choe asked why he was spending all his money developing nuclear missiles when his country's people were starving. Kim simply replied ''The missiles cannot reach the United States,'' he said, ''and if I launch them, the U.S. would fire back thousands of missiles and we would not survive. I know that very well. But I have to let them know I have missiles. I am making them because only then will the United States talk to me.''
He is apparently ruthless, cunning and manipulative. Most say he's been running the show long before his father's death and plotted to remove any other power brokers close to his father, before he took official power. He's said to have ordered the terrorist bombing of a Korean Airliner (South Korea's airline) which killed all 115 on board in 1987.
Aid agencies estimate that over 2 million North Koreans have died since the 1990s due to famine, natural disastors and government neglect.
Smart and crazy is a dangerous combination. As funny as it is to laugh at the guy (I still have to laugh hysterically whenever I watch Team America) he's very scary considering the power he wields.
Funny looking, crazy and smart
A story was run by South Korea's Yonhap news agency last week stating that Kim ordered all Japanese cars be seized. The decision was made after he saw a broken down Japanese car blocking a road. Most cars in the country are Japanese, so it's hard to say how this one will work out. The ruling also comes after Japan increased sanctions following nuclear missile tests.
So what do we know about this living caraciture? Here are a few facts:
He's referred to as the 'Dear Leader' and was mythically said to be born in a log cabin at his father's guerilla base on North Korea's highest mountain in Feb 1942. In fact he was born in Siberia in 1941 during his father's exile in the former Soviet Union.
He came into power in 1994 when his father, Kim Il Sung, died. No one knew much, saw much, or heard much about him beforehand.
With his extraordinary hair style and looks, there were rumours circulating that he was a big playboy who liked to live it up. Not really the case. He's apparently very charismatic and very astute. He thinks of himself as technologically advanced in a country where email or internet access is scarce (he has one of course). He apparently only sleeps four hours a night and likes to work through the night.
A quote from the NY Times says it best:
His micromanaging style is less Caligula, with whom he has often been compared, and more Jimmy Carter on an authoritarian tear.
Back in the summer of 2000 Kim held talks with South Korea's president Choe. Over a diplomatic dinner, Choe asked why he was spending all his money developing nuclear missiles when his country's people were starving. Kim simply replied ''The missiles cannot reach the United States,'' he said, ''and if I launch them, the U.S. would fire back thousands of missiles and we would not survive. I know that very well. But I have to let them know I have missiles. I am making them because only then will the United States talk to me.''
He is apparently ruthless, cunning and manipulative. Most say he's been running the show long before his father's death and plotted to remove any other power brokers close to his father, before he took official power. He's said to have ordered the terrorist bombing of a Korean Airliner (South Korea's airline) which killed all 115 on board in 1987.
Aid agencies estimate that over 2 million North Koreans have died since the 1990s due to famine, natural disastors and government neglect.
Smart and crazy is a dangerous combination. As funny as it is to laugh at the guy (I still have to laugh hysterically whenever I watch Team America) he's very scary considering the power he wields.
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