Scenes of Pyongyang citizens wailing the death of "Dear Leader" Kim Jong Il remind us how easily dictatorships can manipulate public opinion. But are the rest of us so immune to similar manipulation?
The commentaries after Kim's death tell us repeatedly that the deceased North Korean leader was reclusive, erratic, enigmatic and dangerous. Yet almost all the few outsiders who actually met the man came away impressed by his intelligence, moderation, rationality and openness. Former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who saw him close up during the 2002 abductee negotiations, has praised Kim for his bright (akarui) personality and directness. He said he had no feeling he was talking to some kind of dark dictator. Even the hawkish former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the Kim he saw was quite "rational."
Kim is castigated for continuing Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions, claiming it needed nuclear power sources (it may also have felt it needed the protection of nuclear weapons). The initial U.S. reaction was to bomb North Korea. It then decided, albeit reluctantly, to negotiate. The result was the 1994 Agreed Framework under which the United States promised to open a diplomatic mission in Pyongyang, lift economic restrictions and build power-generating light-water nuclear reactors in exchange for Pyongyang abandoning those nuclear ambitions. The promise of a diplomatic mission was especially welcomed by Pyongyang since the U.S. usually does not bomb people with whom it has diplomatic relations.