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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsLoosen your belts
TANTALISING hints of change have seeped out of North Korea in recent weeks. Not least, the callow Kim Jong Un has confounded Pyongyang-watchers who had predicted that he would slavishly follow his late fathers recipe for keeping an iron grip on power. The 20-something inherited the family dictatorship when Kim Jong Il died of a heart attack in December. The late Kim ran the state as a mafia racket, earning hard currency from drugs, counterfeiting and illicit-arms sales while using his nuclear-weapons programme to blackmail the rest of the world for aid. He diverted lavish resources to the army and to a tiny elite, and he ground nearly everyone else under his platform heel, dispatching perceived enemies to his prison camps in their hundreds of thousands.
In tone, the young Mr Kim has quickly signalled change from his fathers paranoid rule, and with unexpected verve. Last month he fired the armys senior general, a hardliner, while a civilian was hastily promoted. One reading is that Mr Kim is retreating from his fathers military-first stance.
His public appearances are also different. He is often seen laughing with those around him. Where Kim Jong Ils consorts were kept out of sight, a stylish young woman has recently appeared by the Great Successors side. Last month the couple graced the front row of a debut concert for the all-girl Moranbong Band, whose miniskirts, Disney cameos and foreign tunes (My Way) all broke new ground, for North Korea if nowhere else. In public speeches (Kim Jong Ils were dubbed over by emotional commentary), Mr Kim says the years of belt-tightening are over. He calls for fresh economic thinking.
http://www.economist.com/node/21560257?fsrc=scn/tw/te/pe/loosenyourbelts
SoCalDem
(103,856 posts)That money wasted on nukes could surely be better spent on the people he now rules..
They could enter the 21st century , and everyone would benefit..