RSS 2.0 FeedNovember 2011 Volume 38, Featured Articles, Guest Writer
Obituary: Kim Jong-il
Kim Jong-il was one of the world's most reclusive and enigmatic leaders, presiding over a secretive and internationally isolated country. The world's only hereditary communist ruler, he was criticised for flagrant human rights abuses and for threatening the stability of the region by pursuing a nuclear weapons programme and testing long-range missiles. When he assumed power after the death of his father, Kim Il-sung, in 1994, very little was known about Kim Jong-il.
He had seldom been seen in public. He was said to have personally ordered the shooting down of a South Korean airliner in 1987. The South Korean media portrayed him as a vain man, a playboy with a bouffant hairstyle and sporting platform shoes in order to appear taller. Anecdotal evidence suggests he was not as stupid as his southern neighbours made out, though his over-fondness for food and drink was probably true. Konstantin Pulikovsky, a Russian emissary who travelled with Mr Kim by train across Russia, reported that the North Korean leader had live lobsters air-lifted to the train each day which he ate with silver chopsticks. The two men, he said, shared champagne with a bevy of female companions of "utmost beauty and intelligence". He was seen draining 10 glasses of wine during his 2000 summit with then South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and is known to have a taste for Hennessy VSOP cognac. Personality cult Those who met him say he was well-informed and he was said to have followed assiduously international events. Former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said Kim Jong-il was on top of his brief Some saw him as a clever manipulator, willing to take risks to underpin his regime. Former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said that Kim Jong-il was "very much on top of his brief".
His image in North Korea was one of a hero in the typical manner of the dictator's cult of personality. Official North Korean accounts say he was born in a log cabin and the event was reportedly marked by a double rainbow and a bright star in the sky. They say he wrote six operas in two years and designed one of Pyongyang's most famous landmarks. In fact, according to outside experts, Mr Kim was born near the Russian city of Khabarovsk where his guerrilla father was receiving Soviet military support. Subsequently, the young Kim spent the Korean War in China. Like most of North Korea's elite, he graduated from Kim Il-sung University. In 1975, he acquired the title Dear Leader and five years later joined the Central Committee of the Korean Workers Party and was given special responsibility for art and culture. In 1978, he ordered the abduction of a South Korean film director, Shin Sang-ok and his actress wife Choi Eun-hee.
They were held separately for five years before being reunited at a party banquet. They said afterwards that Mr Kim had apologised for the kidnappings and asked them to make movies for him. They completed seven before escaping to the West in 1986. Kim Jong-il's love of the cinema bordered on the obsessive. He is said to have collected a library of 20,000 Hollywood movies and to have even written a book on the cinema. Elizabeth Taylor was believed to have been his pin-up. He is also believed to have visited the state film company hundreds of times and produced a patriotic 100-part serial on North Korean history. Famine In 1991, he was elected supreme commander of the Korean People's Army. Analysts believe he was given the position to counter potential resistance to an eventual succession. The two Korean leaders embrace in 2000 By now, North Korea's rigid centrally-controlled economy had slipped into an ever-deepening economic crisis exacerbated by the collapse of the country's main trading partner, the Soviet Union.
Trade dried up and the regime even ran out of fuel for factories and offices. Natural disasters led to crop failures and hundreds of thousands are believed to have died. Potential unrest was quashed by the authorities. This grave state of affairs continued after Kim succeeded his father on his death in 1994. However, Kim Jong-il did relieve the crisis somewhat by appealing for international assistance, particularly from China. He also visited China several times, and was known to be interested in how communist China had adapted its socialist principles to a market economy. After visiting Beijing and Shanghai in 2000 and 2001, North Korea began experimenting, on a small scale, with private entrepreneurship. He also moved some way to improving relations with South Korea. In June 2000, he met the South's leader, Kim Dae-jung, the first inter-Korean summit since the Korean War in 1953 which divided the nation. The summit's main achievement was to increase links between the states, including allowing the reunion of families separated by the Korean War. More than a million Koreans were affected in this way. Missiles and rumours In August 2008 a report appeared in a Japanese news magazine claiming that Kim Jong-il had died in 2003 and that his supposed public appearances had, in fact, been undertaken by body doubles
. A month later US intelligence sources claimed Kim had suffered a stroke, following reports that he had failed to appear at a military parade to mark the country's 60th anniversary. Amid rumour and counter rumour the North Korean authorities released a video in April 2009 which claimed to show Kim making official visits to factories during November and December 2008. He made a dramatic appearance in August 2009 when former US President, Bill Clinton, flew to North Korea to secure the release of two American journalists, who had been arrested after allegedly illegally entering North Korea in March. After meeting Mr Clinton it was reported that Kim Jong-il had agreed to pardon the two journalists and they returned to the United States. Kim Jong-il's devoted commitment to his father's particular Marxist-Leninist vision was fundamental. His insistence on maintaining the North's nuclear weapons programme in the face of international criticism, and the development and testing of long-range missiles capable of hitting American cities, cast Kim Jong-il as both a pariah and a maverick, and ensured that his country remained isolated. His death at the age of 69 on 17 December 2011 was announced on state television.
More Featured Articles
CAUGHT CHEATING? HOW TO MOVE FORWARD AFTER BEING UNFAITHFUL
We all learn to look out for signs that our man is cheating, or subtle hints that he might be seeing someone else on the side, but what if you are the one that cheated? Assuming that you still want to work on your current relationship, we have 7 ways to move on successfully after you’ve been unfaithful. This is not a “loop-hole” and is not praised, but the reality is 14 percent of married women have had affairs at least once during their married lives and 17 percent of divorces in the United States are caused by infidelity. If you fall into this category, and don’t want to be part of the divorce statistic, take a look at these helpful steps.
Sure signs she's cheating on you
MARRIAGES often break down on account of husbands not being loyal to their wives.
Bonkers:Kim Jong-il: The cinephile despot
One of the more surprising facts about Kim Jong-il was his love of cinema. He reportedly owned more than 20,000 videos and DVDs and counted Elizabeth Taylor among his favourite actresses.
: Exporting Rough Diamonds, a Major Setback
GOVERNMENT'S plans to continue exporting rough diamonds without processing them locally is depriving thousands of Zimbabweans employment opportunities, a local diamond education college has said.
Zanu PF followers still disillusioned
HARARE - Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe moved to the podium with his trademark blend of languor and briskness — still looking reasonably sprightly for an 87-year-old in reportedly poor health.
“I CAN STILL HAVE SEX,” SAYS MAN WHOSE PENIS WAS BITTEN BY HOOKER
A Gweru man, Brian Shumba (32) who had a chunk of his manhood bitten off during a dispute with a prostitute is now up and about. Shumba was a regular customer and the dispute was over payment for services she had rendered to him.
Millions From Diamonds Go to Mugabe, Observers Say
JOHANNESBURG — Tens of millions of dollars in diamond profits — perhaps more — are being secretly extracted from state-owned mines in eastern Zimbabwe, bypassing the nation’s treasury and raising fears that President Robert Mugabe is amassing wealth to help extend his 31-year reign, according to monitoring groups, diplomats, lawmakers and analysts and reported in he New York Times.
ANC backing Mugabe out of own fear - Analysts
JOHANNESBURG - The ANC’s backing for Zanu-PF in Zimbabwe’s elections next year is a demonstration that former liberation parties that waged guerrilla wars do not want to see other liberation movements losing power, but analysts do not believe there will be an economic meltdown if President Robert Mugabe has another term in office.
Is another cholera epidemic on the way?
HARARE, (IRIN) - Waterborne diseases, such as typhoid, dysentery and watery diarrhoea - all approaching epidemic levels - are creating concerns that conditions exist for a reprise of the 2008/09 cholera epidemic, which killed more than 4,000 people and infected nearly 100,000 others.
Zimbabwe's forgotten children, struggling to survive
Zimbabwe, when I was growing up there, was the breadbasket of Africa and had one of the best education systems in Africa if not the world.
Prepare for bedroom fireworks
Are you getting too much sleep? Do you end up watching infomercials on TV? Here are some easy tips for men and women that will light up not just the bedroom ceiling, but your whole neighbourhood too.
Danin: The dictators' rogue sons
Bashar al-Assad, Gamal Mubarak, and Saif al-Islam share a number of things in common. For starters, all were groomed by their fathers to succeed them in ruling Syria, Egypt, and Libya respectively. Second, all were heralded as reformers, men who would help propel their countries, economically and politically, into the twenty-first century. Third, when protests hit their countries, each of them advocated a ruthless and violent response to the unrest.
Things fall apart for MDC-N
Several moons ago I observed that it may be time for my fellow academic, Professor Welshman Ncube, to seriously consider engaging Morgan Tsvangirai and his party in order to get the two factions of the original MDC back together before the onset of the next elections.
Zimbabwean woman appointed Air Botswana head
GABORONE - A Zimbabwean has scored a first by becoming the first woman to head Botswana’s national airline, Air Botswana.
Kennedy Mavhumashava: Misihairabwi-Mushonga's sex, sexual metaphors unbecoming
What is it with MDC-N secretary-general, Mrs Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga and sex, sexual metaphors and objects?
Replacing Mugabe, a Zanu-PF nightmare By The Africa Report
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party opens its annual conference on Wednesday in Bulawayo with the contentious succession issue absent from the agenda.
The (hard) life and times of Morgan Tsvangirai
LIFE has not been easy for Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai since he took office last year. His decision for the MDC to join government has led to accusations of being co-opted by Zanu-PF and the change that his election campaign in 2008 promised turned out to be a damp squib.
ZANU PF must reform to survive
The Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU PF) national people’s conference begins in Bulawayo on the 6th of December 2011 writes Lloyd Msipa.
Pyrrhic victory for Mugabe - the unwanted presidential candidate
Zanu-PF is stuck with President Robert Mugabe. The party is set to endorse the ailing 87-year-old as its candidate in the elections next year or in 2013 against the will of most of its senior members.
Morgan Tsvangirai's love exploits laid bare
ZIMBABWEAN Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's 12-day marriage has cast the spotlight on his private life - with a list of women with whom he has allegedly had relationships crawling out of the woodwork.
NASA- Uganda takes shape for a launch into space - SERIOUS
Some luck test pilot will be flying this thing in 2012, Sit back and relax!
Man ordered to pay wife for lack of sex
A COURT in France has ordered a man to pay $13,500 in damages to his long-frustrated ex-wife after he failed in his marriage "duties" by withholding sex from her for years.
Who wants to be a monkey?
A student has been left feeling a little red-faced after an embarrassing incident with a monkey made her a global star. Charmian Chen, who just happens to be a model, was visiting the Sacred Monkey Forest Ubud in Bali last month when two of the primates decided she was a little overdressed.The 22-year-old student, from Taiwan, was on holiday on the tropical Indonesian island feeding long-tailed macaques when she was singled out.
ANC learnt from Zimbabwe shambles
What we learn from the ANC's simultaneous sacking of Julius Malema and passing the Secrecy Bill is that the ANC has learnt its lesson from the failure of Zimbabwe.
Will Robert Mugabe exit like Gaddafi?
HARARE, Zimbabwe — On his eighth visit to Singapore this year — and those are just the ones we know about — it is inevitable that speculation should swirl around the topic of President Robert Mugabe’s health.
Interview: It's important for Tsvangirai to control his zip as Prime Minister
Question Time looks at the confusion surrounding reports that Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai had married long time girlfriend Locadia Karimatsenga Tembo. Political analyst Pedzisai Ruhanya blames co-Home Affairs Minister Theresa Makone for meddling in Tsvangirai's personal love life. In a hard hitting interview he says Makone should focus on her duties as a minister. Interview broadcast 23 November 2011
'We cure HIV with anointing water': Six die after churches tell sufferers they don't need medicine
At least six people with HIV stopped taking their medication and died after churches claimed God could cure them, an investigation has found.Undercover reporters who posed as worshippers infected with HIV in south London were told that pastors could heal them.The journalists underwent a 'healing process' where they were sprayed in the face with water while a member of the church called for the devil to come out.
New Radio Stations but Same Old Message
Yet another chance to implement critical reforms in Zimbabwe, yet another lost opportunity. And once again it's President Mugabe and his ZANU-PF party who are left smiling - or, in this case, laughing all the way to the recording studios.
