How ironic is it that two leaders on opposite ends of the political spectrum should pass away on the same day? I woke up yesterday to news of former Czech president, dissident, and playwright Vaclav Havel's death at the age of 75, and went to bed with the news that North Korean dictator and resident nutcase Kim Jong Il had died on Saturday from "overwork" at the age of 69.
Mr. Havel was a reluctant politician. He is said to have cared initially more about reform within the Communist party than leading his nation through political upheaval. However, under his guidance, Mr. Havel did just that. Without a drop of blood being shed, in 1989 he negotiated the peaceful end of Communist rule in Czechoslovakia and then, through two terms as president, he oversaw the split of the country into the Czech Republic and Slovakia before leading the Czech Republic into a close alliance with the West that resulted in its joining NATO in 1999 and the European Union in 2004.
Kim Jong Il, on the other hand, otherwise known as "Dear Leader," ruled a secretive and hermetic police state through a bizarre cult of personality that remains the world's last true Communist holdout. While he dined on French haute cuisine, drank cognac and watched Hollywood films, he also starved millions of his own people, built up its nuclear weapons program, arrested and executed no doubt thousands of dissidents, and generally sought to wreak havoc and instability on the Korean Peninsula for reasons that no one has ever really been able to fathom. Even his closest ally in the region--China--seemed to prefer to distance itself in recent years from its troublesome neighbor. While politicos have been speculating for years about what would happen in the event of the Dear Leader's death, North Korea wasted no time in announcing the succession of his son Kim Jong-um, otherwise known as the...um..."Great Successor," a guy no one knows too much about but who certainly does not appear to have been groomed for political office to the extent his "dear" father had been. Many worry that the Great Successor will instigate some sort of military action as a means of proving his mettle.
It is anyone's guess what will happen in the days/weeks to come, but one thing is likely. I doubt North Korea is heading for political change anytime soon. Kim Jong-um is...um...definitely no Vaclav Havel. And it is equally doubtful the North Korean people will...um... rise up against the Great Successor, at least not based on the videos of mass hysteria and outpourings of grief state-controlled North Korean television has broadcast to the world. (As horrifying as it is, the first time I saw this film I couldn't help but have a big ol' hearty laugh. I mean...seriously? Don't these people realize how ridiculous they look? But then, many of them probably don't know any better...when you've been brainwashed from birth you can't function in any other way. Anyway, I had to share...)
My point is, the North Koreans don't appear to be a people in a position to organize themselves en masse as their brethren in the Middle East have lately done. One can only hope, but I'm not holding my breath. And neither should any of you.
Ciao.
QUESTION OF THE DAY: "Do you think we will see any glimmer of democratic reform in North Korea, or will it be just more of the same?"
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