Word: jong
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...relative silence. Kim's death might have been expected to throw his nation into furor. The problem with that theory is simply that he and his government had been planning for the event for years. The ascension of Kim II Sung's son, 52-year-old Kim Jong Il, has been a foregone conclusion for years...
...Jong Il hardly has a smooth path into power; he's not very well known, appears infrequently in public and all of his credibility stems from his father. North Koreans might embrace him, but only as an impulsive reaction built on years of conditioning. Despite Kim Il Sung's atrocious and violent purges of his enemies, many North Koreans always saw him as a godlike figure of immobile strength. After almost half a century as undisputed leader of a xenophobic nation, such devotion on the part of the public is not surprising...
...death comes at a crucial time in the determination of North Korea's place in the global balance of power. No one could have expected Kim's death to happen so suddenly, especially on the heels of North Korea's progressively easing stance on its nuclear program. If Kim Jong Il indeed makes a smooth transition to the leadership of his country, he will have to deal immediately with the nuclear conflict. Few foreign leaders have met with or even seen the younger Kim, and yet he will have to confront the United States and the United Nations...
...other view is that Kim, an old-fashioned communist dictator, sees nuclear weapons as the ultimate insurance for the survival of his regime and / the succession of his son Kim Jong Il. If this is correct, Kim's repeated agreements to allow inspectors to work freely, and his subsequent refusals to live up to them, are part of a stalling game. His aim may be to string the West along until the end of the year, when he could have the plutonium for six or eight atom bombs -- which might be enough to deter attack or blackmail a neighbor...
...going to bargain away." The diplomatic fog, he thinks, has all been cover for a determined bomb program. Norman Levin, a senior analyst at the Rand Corp., believes North Korea is bargaining, but not about economic aid or diplomatic recognition. The issue is securing the succession of Kim Jong Il, who does not have the popular following or revolutionary credentials of his father. But, says Levin, if the younger Kim "outsmarts the Americans and keeps the nukes, it would be a great victory for his legitimacy...