Kim Jong II
Understanding Kim Jong Il
He likes fast cars and fast women, he's been implicated in murder and terrorism, and now he's got nuclear weapons. But dismissing the North Korean dictator as crazy plays into his hands.
By Laura McClure
Jan. 10, 2003 | Kim Jong Il likes Daffy Duck and fast cars, and before he became North Korea's dictator he wanted to be a film producer. He was born on the peak of a sacred mountain, he says, and his birth was attended by thunder and lightning.
In 1978 he had spies kidnap his favorite South Korean actress in order to improve North Korean cinema. His agents were implicated in the 1987 bombing of a Korean Air flight, killing 135 passengers, intended to scare away tourists from the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
While his famine-starved people eat tree bark to ease their hunger, he dines on steak and cognac in the company of the "pleasure squad" -- a variety pack of imported blondes and Asian beauties.
He's also in charge of North Korea's nuclear missile program. And when his minions revealed the nation had restarted its nuclear weapons program late last year, and expelled arms inspectors, the unexpected provocation had U.S. diplomats asking a vexing question: How do you negotiate with a madman?
Dr. Kongdan Oh, coauthor of "North Korea Through the Looking Glass," insists the first step is to stop thinking of him as one.
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"North Koreans are taught that their leader, Kim Jong Il, was born in a cottage near a sacred mountain - and that at the moment of his birth, rainbows appeared in the sky."