Kim Jong Un’s former classmates say he really is ‘dangerous, unpredictable, prone to violence’

WP ^ | 2013/12/16 | Max Fisher

[TigerLikesRooster]

Kim Jong Un’s former classmates say he really is ‘dangerous, unpredictable, prone to violence’

By Max Fisher, Updated: December 16 at 12:39 pm

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. (AFP PHOTO / KCNA via KNS)

The U.S. government reached alarming conclusions about the personal character of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un based on interviews with people who knew him when he was a student in Switzerland, former U.S. Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell revealed on CNN over the weekend.

The official U.S. assessment of Kim's character is perhaps not, on its face, very surprising. After all, the North Korean leader, like his father, certainly gives the impression of a wild-eyed despot who appears to buy into his own highly official cult of personality. But North Korea-watchers have long debated whether this is merely a pose, a performance calculated to rally North Koreans and intimidate the outside world. This assessment suggests that Kim's antics are not entirely about rational decision-making but are at least in part driven by a personality just as crazy as it appears.

[beelzepug]

“Oh, my, armature hour.”

I thought maybe you were playing around on FR when you were supposed to be in Auto Shop that period. 8^)

[SevenofNine]

Speaking of Chia Chub

They asking where is Mrs Chia Chub

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/10523656/Where-is-Kim-Jong-uns-wife.html

[AmericanInTokyo]

Precisely as predicted here, the other day, the Norks apparantly have a gruesome, chilling videotape of the execution of Jang's associates, and their subsequently being given the flame thrower treatment, and this is being arbitrarily shown around North Korea to party and military with the caveat that "you will get this if you, too, oppose the Leader and the State." True to the old Stalinist days of NKVD terror rule, they learned well from the big brother Soviets.

And these jackasses in the international and US liberal media were telling us three years ago that fat bastard young Kim Jong Un just might represent a new opening to the DPRK since he was "westernized" and more "modern thinking" and "likes basketball."

[AmericanInTokyo]

Yes, mass purges based on age will occur, and analysis in Tokyo is that this will hollow out the current DPRK leadership, brutal but also somewhat skilled and knows limits. What replaces them? Who knows?

Ever pulled over by two police, one younger and one seasoned and older? Notice the aggressive attitude usually by the younger one, to prove a point? I think this could well apply here. And with Barry in the White House, well, a perfect storm.

[AmericanInTokyo]

Good point. Money talks. Particularly in these days with a retiring intel officer somewhere from a friendly nation with access to the leadership psych profile on Obama including full backgrounder, and as they say “every man has his price.” With one single thumb drive, and there you go (Sandy Berger-style). I imagine the Russians and Brits have some of the most detailed, interesting reports on that Kenyan, maybe even phone intercepts of Watergate proportion.

[GeronL]

True. The left also keeps trying that everytime the Ayatollah allows a new leader in Iran.... “ooh this time he’s different...”... they even tried that with Raul Castro. No doubt they probably did it with every change at the top of the Soviet Union.

[AmericanInTokyo]

And get this. Apparantly North Korean business associates of Jang Sung Taek across China, who are underground now and trying to keep one step ahead of hordes of DPRK secret police dispatched to China to feret out and capture these faction members and spirit them back to NK for certain execution, have HOLED UP IN THE SOUTH KOREAN EMBASSY or CONSULATES in China and some reported to have spirited out with them high-level internal DPRK documents relating to North Korean nuclear weapons projects. Yowza!! Possible gold mine. This is going to get very interesting.

[hoosiermama]

He77 the Brits have his record of birth and they’ve locked it away from prying eyes. They’ve caved to HIS bullying! Why? What does he have on them-—?

[GeronL]

Those docs have likely already been copied and transmitted

[GeronL]

Anyone who is smart should just get out of there ASAP

[SevenofNine]

Can you imagine that WOWWW I hope they get to saftey

[AmericanInTokyo]

China is of the propensity to actually send them back to DPRK (and certain torture and death) if they are caught by the NK secret agents fanning out throughout China, or so one Japanese dispatch read yesterday. Sick.

[hoosiermama]

It’s time like these that FR needs a like button
Great analysis!

[darrellmaurina]

20 posted on 12/17/2013 4:58:49 PM by TigerLikesRooster: “The candidates for new core are: Kim Jong-eun, his brother Kim Jong-chol, his sister Kim Yeojong, and his half sister Kim Sol-song. The last is said to be late 30’s, probably 39.”

Just great. The Western world may get to see a repeat of the late 1800s and World War II-era stereotypes of Asian “dragon lady” rulers, which were based on Madame Chiang Kai-shek's role during World War II and earlier women behind the throne near the end of the Chinese Empire, such as Empress Dowager Cixi.

The problem is that some stereotypes are true. Go ask a Westerner who has worked for an Asian company under the authority of an upper-level female manager, let alone a daughter or granddaughter of the owner. Asian women placed into positions of power far too often act more authoritarian than the men around them, perhaps because the alternative would be perceived as being a sign of weakness, and lead to their removal from power.

Exceptions exist, obviously, but the phrase “kimchi temper,” when used to refer to Korean women, did not develop without reason.

Oh well. Kimchi temper can be useful to get things done — and it may be critical now to have a strong president in South Korea's Blue House.

I guess we should be glad that our ally Israel has Benjamin Netanyahu to intimidate Middle Easterners who don't fear our president and that South Korea has President Park to intimidate the North Korean leader who clearly has more respect for Dennis Rodman than for our president. Sometimes chutzpah and kimchi temper can be very useful.

And in case anyone wonders if TigerLikesRooster is the only one thinking this way, here's an article on the women rising to power in North Korea: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/10517906/The-women-behind-the-throne-in-North-Koreas-empire-of-horror.html

Here's a profile of Kim Sol-song from three years ago which noted even then her potential for future influence: http://nkleadershipwatch.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/kim-sol-song20104revsn.pdf

And here's a profile of Kim Yeojong from a year and a half ago regarding her role as a “royal inspector” in the ancient Korean monarchical tradition of roaming the countryside in secret and reporting back to the king on what is really happening in the provinces:
http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk02900&num=8826

[TigerLikesRooster]

Kim Dynasty trusts no one except their blood family. Has been that way since the day of Kim Il-sung. Kim Jong-eun needs his own family group from his generation. It just happens that two are females. We will see this brat pack running around. If they come out of the shadow and become involved in important decision-making, we have a trouble because I do not place confidence on their competence.