Ding Dong for Kim Jong

Though he was a member of George Bush's 2002 "Axis of Evil," I never found Kim Jong Il particularly scary.(By the way those Axis of Evil meetings must be getting kind of lonely for Iran, time to recruit some new members) As far as Kim Jong Il my lasting memory of him is as a parody of a dictator. This is probably influenced by his starring role in Team America, but also by his outlandish delusions of grandeur. In 1994, while playing his first game of golf he reportedly got a 38 under par, and recorded between 5 and 11 holes in one. He also had similar beginner's luck with bowling, in which he reportedly bowled a perfect game in his very first try at the game. Additionally, North Korean media reported that Kim Jong Il's trademark green fatigue suits were becoming a hot fashion item around the world(though admittedly they are very nice), also that his birth caused winter to change to spring. More realistic attributes that are ascribed to him, that are equally as nuts, are reports that he'd spend about 700,000 dollars a year on Hennessey, and that he only ate rice that were uniform in length and color.

It is these wacky stories that come to mind first, rather than anything about his dictatorial rule. In fact in writing this story the Redel-Traub Report had to turn to other news outlets to gain insight on what terrors his reign wrought. In the quick research we've done, his main flaw seems to be investing far too much money on military expenditures, and developing nuclear weapons, while many in his country starved to death. Additionally, he had the brutal secret police that serve as a hallmark of all dictatorships.

Now Kim Jong Il leaves a country with nuclear capabilities to his son. His son is by all accounts crazier and meaner than his father, but perhaps the country will experience an "Asian Winter" that will liberate it from the totalitarian rule it's suffered under for about 60 years. Though this seems unlikely as North Korea's elite and military leadership has coalesced it's support around Kim Jong-Un, KIm Jong Il's Swiss educated son.

For today, at least, it's goodbye and good riddance to Kim Jong Il. He will be remembered as a madman, not in the way Hitler and Stalin are for murdering untold numbers of people though he certainly did that. Instead Kim Jong Il was the rare type of dictator who's personal foibles made him funny instead of scary. Though he theoretically had the weaponry to attack the U.S., his goofiness received more press and was more memorable. Kim Jong Il, known for his love of movies, basketball, cigars, alcohol, and rich foods, as well as his brutal reign over the North Korean, people is dead today at 69 years old.


P.S. on a personal note, when I was younger, I thought that his name was Kim Jong the 2nd because I read the uppercase I and lower case l as Roman numerals.