Kim Jong Gone?

2 Replies to “Kim Jong Gone?”

1. Come on Kate, we all know what happened to Kim Jung Il. He was dispatched by Team America.

2. kate
   thats a pleasant idea but don’t get your hopes up too soon. kim makes a habit of disappearing for extended periods of time only to reappear on some inspection tour of an army unit. the recent changes noticed by travellers and diplomats are interesting and with any luck do portend substantive changes in that wretched regime. however i dont think anyone should make too much of the recent re-election of dubya and company. the americans have essentially no leverage to influence kim other than to refuse to do business with him or ineffectually attempt to bomb him. the chinese do have influence though -oil, food, spare parts- as much as they vigouously deny it. starting last year they parked as many as a 150,000 extra troops on the border and a recent report has an additional division of special forces digging in for the winter. this could well mean that washington’s neo-cons aren’t the only ones interested in regime change in pyongyang. the difference is china has the economic means to do it and the military contacts with kim’s generals to achieve it. with any luck in the next few years dear leader kim will leave north korea for “medical treatment” in bejing, with his entire family of course.