By Alexei Summers (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: January 11, 2012
North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il made international headlines this holiday season by passing away. According to state television the ‘Dear leader” suffered a myocardial infarction on December 17, brought on by stress and exhaustion. He allegedly died at the age of 70 in his presidential train. He was heavily criticized throughout his rule as being one of the most brutal dictators of all time, following in the tradition of Josef Stalin. Since he took leadership in 1994, there have been mass allegations in the political world of massive human rights violations in North Korea. He is accepted outside of North Korea as being the reason for the starvation and widespread famine within his country, by allocating most of the nation’s finances toward the military instead of the welfare of his people. The Korean People’s Army is a fantastic force of over one million soldiers, making it the fourth largest army in the world, and because of the Cult of Personality surrounding the “eternal president” Kim Il-Sung and the “dear leader” Kim Jong-Il, it also makes it the most dedicated.
Kim Jong-Il inherited the tiny secluded hermit nation from his father Kim Il-Sung, who led a communist revolt backed by the Soviet Russian leader Stalin against UN Forces in the 1950s. The Korean War never ended, but rather a ceasefire was called, and the nation of Korea was divided in two along the 38th Parallel – the communists taking the North, and the Capitalists taking the South. The two mile stretch of land that is the border between the two Koreas is called the Demilitarized Zone. It is the most heavily militarized zone in the world: one million landmines have been laid in it over time (most of which are still active), and American as well as North and South Korean guards patrol it at all times during the day.
This is the last surviving front of the Cold War. Kim Jong-Il was well known for ruling his nation with an iron fist, and for relentlessly bullying his neighbours to the South. In November of last year, he threatened to turn Seoul, the capital of South Korea into a “sea of fire,” after an exchange of missiles between a disputed sea border. According to UN Forces, in launching missiles at the tiny island of Yeonpeong, North Korea violated the 1953 Armistice Treaty that declared an official ceasefire between the two nations. There have been many minor skirmishes between NATO and North Korean People’s Army forces between 1953 and now, but this was by far the closest that the two forces have come to removing the ceasefire and resuming full-scale warfare as it was in 1953. In the end, Six Power Talks followed the incident and despite the political sabre-rattling, cooler heads prevailed and a nuclear war was avoided – but this serves as an example of Kim Jong-Il’s style of dictatorship.
North Korea itself is a tiny island nation frozen in time – a time where the USSR was dedicated to spreading communism. Its technology is limited and frozen in the 1950s. The nation has cut itself off from the rest of the world, and with the dissolution of the Soviet Union has in recent times become mostly self-reliant, with only a little bit of help from China. Still bitter about The Korean War, North Korea has showed no cessation of hostilities against America or Japan, and resources have continued to pour into the army rather than North Korea’s infrastructure or economy.
It is unsurprising, then, that North Korea has a developing ICBM program. While this is dated technology to the rest of the world, if Korea ever possesses an intercontinental atomic bomb, it could fire upon its worst enemies—namely, North America—at any given time. Although the ICBM is a ways off yet, North Korea does, however, possess a large stockpile of medium-range ballistic missiles, most of which are aimed at South Korea and Japan. Under Kim Jong-Il, the hermit nation made it no secret that it was developing nuclear weapons, openly performing nuclear tests for the entire world to see.
His son – 28-year-old Kim Jong-Un – is rumoured to be set to take over his father’s position as leader of the party, but many political scientists have questioned whether or not we will truly see Kim Jong-Un rise to power, or if we will instead witness a military coup-de-tat.
“I’m not happy about Kim Jong Il’s death because I’m worried about what’s next to come,” said UFV Student of South Korean birth, Luke Hyunsu Kim. “Since Kim Jong Il is dead, there is a high chance that Kim Jong-Un will take his place. Assuming that he has the same understanding and view of the world as his father, I’m worried about what will happen in a year or even in a few months.”
With yet another unpredictable madman at the wheel in control of nuclear launch codes, if all does not go well, we could very well be looking at the blossoming of a nuclear conflict, the resuming of the Korean War, and the possible start of a third world war.
Ryan Bae, also of South Korean birth and former resident of Abbotsford, is now a student at Columbia University in New York. “It scares me, the thought of what might happen,” he admits. “But this might also be a chance for things to get better. We might end up seeing some ease of tension between the two nations. This might usher in a new era of peace.”
The fact is, nobody knows what will happen with the situation in North Korea. So little is known about Kim Jong-Un except that he is very much like his father in almost every way. It has also been theorized that due to Kim Jong-Un’s age, and inexperience, Chang Sung-taek, the brother in law of the late North Korean ruler may take over as acting leader until Kim Jong-Un is properly groomed for the role as the chairman, and supreme leader of the party.
Either way, the world has no choice but to hold its breath and see what happens. The death of Kim Jong-Il might just be the Christmas present North Korea has been waiting for since 1994.
