Posted: 6/12/2018 Revised/Updated: 5/31/2019
Update Of 5/31/2019
Today, following article appeared in the The Korean Times: 'Kim Jong-un carried out purge after Hanoi summit collapse': report. (5/31/19) Here is the related Reuters News article: North Korea executes envoy to failed U.S. summit -media; White House monitoring (5/30/19)
“North Korea executed Kim Hyok Chol, its special envoy to the United States, and foreign ministry officials who carried out working-level negotiations for the second U.S.-North Korea summit in February, holding them responsible for its collapse …
The North Korean leader is believed to be carrying out a massive purge to divert attention away from internal turmoil and discontent, the newspaper said. …
It is the first time since the December 2013 execution of Jang Song Thaek, Kim Jong Un's uncle ...” (emphasis added)
It still remains an open question whether the dictator of North Korea evolves more like Stalin or like Gorbachev.
We know from experience with the history of e.g. USSR and People’s Republic of China that purges in totalitarian communist regimes have to be taken quite seriously. They may portend e.g. significant changes or a power consolidation.
Original Post
Now that the historic meeting between the Korean dictator and a U.S. president has taken place, many wonder what will be the outcome of this in the following days, weeks, months, or years? If President Reagan and General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev are any guide, we should remain optimistic.
If Kim Jong Un is sincere in his efforts to finally to end the Stalinist totalitarian dictatorship in North Korea, he truly is a courageous leader and deserves to be remembered in history despite all his guilt. There are probably many vested interests in North Korea (and probably in Russia and China) that prefer the status quo as it is and these vested interest would do anything in their power not to lose their privileges they have enjoyed for some time. Thus, Kim Jong Un’s life is in jeopardy.
If Kim Jong Un is insincere and/or his allies Russia and China are scheming to upset the West than we wish or will see if President Trump has the clairvoyance to counter that!
From my previous blog posts, the reader will gather that I have supported a reunited Korean peninsula and have speculated over why it has not happened a long time ago (see e.g. here).
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