Free Republic

United States intelligence officials have concluded that the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, went into seclusion during the final build-up to the war in Iraq because he feared that he too might be the target of attack. This led the Pentagon to consider new ways to keep him and his inner circle on edge as a way of bolstering deterrence on the peninsula. Intelligence reports say Mr Kim vanished from public view for 50 days starting in mid-February, a time when the Pentagon also moved bombers into the Korean area of operations. The military's ability to mount precision attacks on...