generalspeaking

A Reasonable Voice

From a newly published book, written by Yoji Gomi, (My Father, Kim Jong-il, and I: Kim Jong-nam's Exclusive Confession) a journalist at the Tokyo Shimbun, it seems to appear that former and dearly departed North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, did have one son who is capable of thinking intelligently, and who has imbibed values that give credit to a human being lurking within the carapace of a member of the Kim family.

The eldest son of Kim Jong-il, Kim Jong-nam, educated in Switzerland, a decade or more older than the younger Kim who has been embraced by the North Korean military as their new 'dear leader', lives in exile in China and Macau. It is his opinion, as reported by Mr. Gomi, that his younger brother's sole qualification for assuming power in North Korea might be his physical resemblance to his grandfather, the country's beloved founder.

"The Kim Jong-un regime will not last long", Kim Jong-nam prophesied. "Without reforms, North Korea will collapse and (even if) such changes take place, the regime will collapse. I'm concerned how Jong-un who merely resembles my grandfather, will be able to satisfy the needs of North Koreans."

"I feel that he has some jealousy about Kim Jong-un because his father, Kim Jong-il, selected him as the next leader", explained Mr. Gomi, of his emailed communications with Kim Jong-nam. "He said to me many times he has no intention to go back to North Korea. But many people, including North Korean people and Chinese people, expect him to go back to North Korea as a kind of leader."

Kim Jong-nam has never, surprisingly, met his younger brother. "The dynastic succession is a joke to the outside world. Rather than welcoming the hereditary succession, China is merely acknowledging it for the sake of maintaining stability", he said. While admitting that "The Chinese government is protecting me, but it is also monitoring me too."

He fell out of favour with his father, as the oldest son, he said, because of his opposition to his father's sternly fanatic diplomatic and economic policies. "After I went back to North Korea following my education in Switzerland, I grew further apart from my father because I insisted on reform and market-opening and was eventually viewed with suspicion."

There are two voices being heard here; one, loud and clear, contempt for the very idea of inherited succession in North Korea. And an acknowledgement that the country's closed-door xenophobia is self-destructive and useless. And a small, fainter voice that admits he is there, waiting, in the background, should the current situation deteriorate and his brother fall from grace.

"It's my inevitable fate. If you can't avoid it, it's better to enjoy it."

His international education gave him the opportunity to measure other countries' political systems and values, finding his own wanting. He appears to have an open mind and it seems, a reasonable intelligence, which he is not loathe to use. North Korea has done much worse; he might conceivably represent its possible future release from the tyranny and collapse it is mired within.

Labels: China, Communication, North Korea, Political Realities

posted by Pieface @ Wednesday, January 18, 2012