Kim Jong-II

Paper Summary:

In this article, the writer notes that the purpose and thesis of Michael Breen's biography of North Korea's leader Kim Jong II is neatly encapsulated in its deliberately ironic title: 'Kim Jong-II, North Korea's Dear Leader'. The writer points out that North Korea is considered a rogue state by most of the world. It is a dictatorship with a nuclear program that seeks to threaten the West. President Bush has identified Jong's nation as one of the members of an "Axis of Evil" that threatens freedom and democracy all over the world. The writer notes that it is the only non-Islamic nation that is a part of this so-called Axis. The writer discusses that Breen attempts to strike a balance between the inflated rhetoric by the current U.S. administration and the truth of North Korea's brutality, without endorsing blind hatred of North Korea or defending the dictator Jong's actions towards the North Korean people.

From the Paper:

"The analogy with the way that the administration treated Saddam Hussein in its rhetoric and Kim Jong II seems inevitable, not in terms of the policy or culture of the two nations but in terms of the polarizing rhetoric that is used--like Saddam Hussein, Kim Jong II mistreats his citizens and uses his position for personal gain, rather than to benefit his state and he permits no dissent amongst his people. But simply calling a nation evil is not a portrait of the nation and does nothing, Breen argues, to facilitate understanding the nation or making the nation listen to the United States' demands or desires.
"But here, the value of this analogy with Korea and its fellow Axis of Evil nations ends, for unlike other nations, North Korea is unique in its insularity as a society, which makes some of Breen's research difficult and means that many of its citizens have never been exposed to the West."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Breen, Michael. Kim Jong II--North Korea's Dear Leader. New York: John Wiley, 2003. Updated 2004.
• Runkel, Christopher W. "Interview with Michael Breen." Business in Asia. 2007. 5 Jul 2007. <http://www.business-in-asia.com/books/korea_book.html>

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