North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il has died, leaving a potentially unstable succession. The government has announced his successor as his third son, Kim Jong-un. We don’t know much about Kim Jong-un other than his mother was apparently Kim Jong-Il’s favorite wife and that he was educated in Switzerland. The South Korean armed forces are on high alert and the Japanese convened a “special security meeting.”
While it was expected that Kim Jong-un would be named as the successor, we don’t know whether or not there are factions in the North Korean army who disagree with the decision. We don’t know if his elder two sons are content with the situation. North Korea is especially dangerous both because it possesses nuclear weapons and because it has enough artillery emplaced within range of the South Korean capital of Seoul that it could create massive casualties at a moment’s notice. For these reasons, it it necessary to tread very carefully when dealing with the North Koreans. It should also be remembered that North Korea is a close and traditional ally of the Chinese.
So, things need to be watched very carefully and everyone needs to keep a cool head.
Maybe Kim Jong-un’s experience in Switzerland rubbed off on him in a good way and he can lead his country out of the isolation it has suffered from in recent decades. Let us hope that he isn’t a sociopath.
Meanwhile, Obama has now seen the disappearance of bin-Laden, Moammar Gaddafi, and Kim Jong-Il. He just ended the war in Iraq, a country that will go forward without the anvil of Saddam Hussein and his Baath Party hanging around its neck. That’s two-thirds of the so-called Axis-of-Evil, Ronald Reagan’s main nemesis, and the man responsible for inspiring the September 11th attacks. You’d think the Republicans would think him charmed, if not skilled, and relent a bit on the incessant criticism.
Heh. I’m only joking. Such bad fortune for America’s enemies can only mean that the anti-Obama rhetoric must be ramped up to eleven.