Front Page Sep 4, 2003
Kim Jong-il's impeccable logic Some say that Kim Jong-il is a dangerous nut case, erratic, paranoid, mendacious, a loose cannon. Although his behavior at one time or another has displayed all of those characteristics, Marc Erikson shows how the Dear Leader uses remarkable survival tactics under adverse circumstances.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Korea/EI04Dg04.html
Kim Jong-il has been accused of being some sort of a dangerous nut case, erratic, paranoid, mendacious, a loose cannon. His behavior at one time or another has displayed all of those characteristics. But he and his father have ruled North Korea for 58 years - not a mean feat, however horrendous for the ruled. And since last October, when confronted by the United States with evidence of a clandestine uranium-enrichment program, the Kim regime has once again displayed remarkable survival tactics under adverse circumstances.
Kim may be paranoid, but he does have enemies. He has lied and broken treaties, but that's not the most uncommon of practices in international politics. He has proved erratic, but a better term might be "unpredictable". His regime, by almost any moral standard, is utterly reprehensible, but the logic of his survival strategy and actions, as demonstrated yet again during and after the just-concluded Beijing six-way talks, is impeccable.
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