[time-related-module]
After being mentored by one of history’s more ruthless dictators, Kim Jong Il, Kim Jong Un spent his first year in power kicking North Korea’s tires. He put its citizens through a wringer of drills, parades, maneuvers and alerts. He also tested the region and the world with missile launches and, in early 2013, a nuclear detonation. But he seems to have moved on to the extravagance phase — partying on a pleasure island, adopting a wayward former NBA player — without perhaps dwelling enough on survival. The detention of an American tourist and the killing of his uncle Jang Song Thaek jeopardized much needed business contracts and foreign-currency streams. These actions also distanced China, a key ally, and bolstered South Korean President Park Geun-hye’s hardening line with the North.
Most important, Kim’s disregard for a desperately poor citizenry raises the eternal North Korean question: How much suffering can human beings tolerate? Unless he starts taking care of his people, the young generalissimo may be the first Kim to find out.
Johnson is the author of the Pulitzer Prize–winning novel The Orphan Master’s Son
- The Inside Story of Princeton's Cinderella Run at March Madness
- The Case for Betting on Succession's Tom Wambsgans
- For Both Donald Trump and Alvin Bragg, the Central Park Jogger Case Was a Turning Point
- If Donald Trump Is Indicted, Here's What Would Happen Next in the Process
- Alison Roman Won't Sugarcoat It
- Why Not All Observant Muslims Fast During Ramadan
- It's Time to Say a Loving Goodbye to John Wick
- Who Should Be on the 2023 TIME100? Vote Now
- Column: Ozempic Exposed the Cracks in the Body Positivity Movement
