Back in September near the end of the month, Kim Jong-il announced his son, Kim Jong-un, will be succeeding him as leader of North Korea. Many optimists around the world will point out that the son could turn out to be more liberal than his father, ushering in a new era of progressive government in the impoverished and backward country. I disagree. The only possible explanation for the current leader's selection is that he honestly believes his third son will continue his legacy.
Think about it. If you were the leader of a country and could pick your own successor, wouldn't you choose someone who could further your mission, whose ideologies were as close to yours as possible? This is why dictatorships don't work, this is why North Korea is not modernizing. Kim Jong-il has been grooming his son for the entirety of his 27 year life, turning him into a copy of himself.
As we all know, a child's upbringing determines what kind of adult he or she will be. Judging by the way he rules his country with an iron fist, Kim Jong-il must be the most controlling parent on the planet. I have no doubt that he's managed to pass all of his psychoses and his disillusionment on to his offspring.
And yet there is still hope. Although the international community has been kept in the dark about most of Kim Jong-un's life, we do know that he was educated in Switzerland (a famously neutral country). Education is almost as important as parenting in shaping a child's mind. It can raise children from poverty and give them the means to become successful in life. Lets hope that it has raised this one child from his bleak upbringing in an increasingly influential dictatorship and taught him how to run a country. Most of all, let us hope that he had some exceptionally good teachers. Otherwise, given the small country's recent obsession with nuclear armament, we're all in trouble.
The dictatorship is working just fine, and is about to enter into the next generation of successful rule.
ReplyDeleteIt's the people of North Korea who are suffering, not the ruling elite.
The point about education makes sense. Kim Jong-Nam, Il's other son was reportedly kept out of school and tutored at home by Song Hye-rang, a North Korean defector. As a result, he has expressed no interest in succeeding his father. Kim Jong-Un will likely follow in his father's footsteps. However, history has shown us this is not guaranteed. North Korea's future depends just as much on the rest of the world's view of it as the country's own ruling class.
ReplyDelete@Anonymous: You're absolutely right, I phrased that badly.
ReplyDelete@Snooki: That's a very interesting fact about Kim Jong-Nam, I was unaware of that. You're right about outside pressure from other nations being a big influence on North Korea's future, I just hope we can stick with diplomatic pressure and not resort to military intervention.