Kim Jong-il

Obituaries, like real life, can go from the sublime to the ridiculous, and we now record the death of Kim Jong-il of North Korea. I don't know if I regret to announce it or not.

Mr. Kim (the Dear Leader) inherited the job from his father, Kim Il-sung (the Great Leader) and is bequeathing it, they say, to his son, Kim Jong-un (the Great Successor) who is believed to be 28.

Of course little is known about what is going on or has gone on in North Korea, but speculation seems to be whether the DL was fundamentally different to the GL (or the same but worse) and whether the GS will be any different to the others. It's a bit like buying a Ford Fiesta.

It is equally probable that the Kim family are simply a front for the people running the country.  One might have thought it was China, but it is hard to see what they would gain by keeping a whole population poor. It is more likely that China tolerates the North Korean regime as an interesting buffer to South Korea, whose dynamic economy must, until the last few years, have shown China up to be backward.

Most likely is that the Kim family are a front for the generals, who are really running the country, which would make it like Burma, but without an organised opposition and with nuclear weapons.

Perhaps Kim Jong-un will stand up and say 'enough of this nonsense!', but for myself I find it hard to be optimistic. It is equally likely that he will decide the route out of poverty is to use some of the weapons they have accumulated.