"What's Different about Kim Jong IL"

Another one bites the dust. This arrogant, hard-line, old-world crank, narcissist has finally bitten the dust. Bad hair-do, bad manners, bad tailor and bad temper sums up Kim Jong Il. In most ways he was right up there with Saddam, Mohamar, Basshir, Fidel, Pinochet, Papa Duvalier, Noriega, The Ayatollah, and Osama just to name a few of the despots that have given migraines to the rest of the world. But Kim Jong Il was very different in two significant ways.

First of all, he had nuclear weapons. That's huge. The other nuisances on my list were dealt with by internal uprisings or if they insisted on pissing off enough people, for a long enough period of time, they were neutralized externally. I mean Noriega is in jail, and the others are either dead or hanging on by their cigars (Castro). BUT Jong Il had the capability of creating cataclysmic mayhem.

The other difference with him was how reclusive he was. No one really knew what exactly was going on in his country. Saying he played it close to the vest is an understatement. He wasn't like those other preening roosters showing the world contempt, parading around in their costume military garb, defying the US to come kick their ass. NOT Kim Jong Il. No, he said little, made few appearances, and rarely did he openly threaten anyone. (There were a sizable number of veiled threats) But he also made it clear that he had no moral objection to letting letting missiles fly.

He's the one foreign leader many American statesmen have said they were far more worried about than the Bin Laden's or Qaddafi's of the world. We always had to be careful with him because he was hard to read and made it clear he didn't care about anyone else in the region or world. He's managed to brainwash his people into thinking he was sent from God, and we all know the effects of fear and blind loyalty (Hitler, Stalin, Emperor Hirohito).

Here is all you need to know about how unstable North Korea was under Kim Jong Il. He sank a South Korean military ship (in the last year or so) and dared South Korea to do something about it. Fire on us they said, go ahead, make our day. They didn't care what the repercussions were. Thank God South Korea didn't even though they wanted to. Very dangerous move by Jong Il but that was what we were up against with him.


Now that he has died, his son, a replication of his father, sits on the throne. Have you seen a picture of his son, the new ruler? He looks like the lost shy kid at the HS dance. So did Carrie! But this kid controls enough munitions to change everything. What will he do?


Their people suffer tremendously, most nights in fact 90% of the country is in total darkness. Satellites flying over show a country in darkness. It's the law. A perfect metaphor for their view of things. Will Jon Il's son move the country onto the world stage? Will the lights stay on? There is always reason to be concerned about the brooding malcontent sitting in the corner of the room, armed to the teeth.