[imText1]There is someone known as Professor K. He was one of my co-researchers when I worked in a government research institution. He used to be a professor at Kim Hyong Jin Teaching University, but he defected to South Korea in the ’90’s and moved to the US.
Professor K told me an interesting story.
Kim Il Sung used to have kidney problems. Although the exact illness he had is not known, Kim received an operation. After serious discussion by the doctors of the “Kim Il Sung Longevity Institute,” they concluded that it would be best for Kim to receive the operation in Hungary, the place known for the best kidney operations among Socialist countries.
However, due to the fact that information about the health of the ”Suryeong” would reach the outside world if Kim received the operation out of the country, a political decision was made to perform the operation at home. Doctors who had studied medicine in Hungary were put on the list of names and among them, a young doctor of 35 was chosen as the surgeon.
“Human Guinea Pigs” Chosen for Kim Il Sung’s Operation
The problem was that the doctor was too young and it would make him too nervous to perform surgery on the “heavenly body of the Suryeong,” and because of this precise problem, there was a high possibility of him making mistakes. It can only be imagined how nervous he must have felt as the personal surgeon considering that normal people perspire on their backs just by seeing “Father Suryeong” for one second.
In order to relieve the young doctor’s anxiety, Kim called in the doctor and made him live with him for 6 months. They ate together, drank together and did daily activities together so that the doctor could understand that the“Suryeong is also a human being.”
Meanwhile, the “Longevity Institute” started human experiments on people selected for having a similar physical constitution. They were tested for similarities with Kim, including blood type, kidneys, and the overall constitution . What they did was that they gave food and medicines known to be good for the kidneys to these selected people and examined the results. In simple terms, they were “human laboratory guinea pigs.” Prof. K was one of the selected ones. He said, it was a good thing that he got to eat so much good food and later he also received a “Contribution” award. After all such processes, Kim Il Sung’s kidney operation ended in success.
Kim Jong Il Will Choose “Stable” Nuclear Over “Unstable” Liberalization
A few days ago, nine specialized doctors reported on a newspaper comparative analysis on Kim Jong Il’s recent pictures and concluded that “Kim Jong Il seems to be suffering of renal failure due to diabetes.” Although I do not have expertise in medicine, I thought their conclusion may be pretty accurate considering Kim Il Sung’s medical history. Especially seeing Kim Jong Il’s weight loss and the swollen joints of his fingers and his wrist seemed to perfectly back up the doctors’ conclusion.
Although there have been “rumors of dieting” of the skinny Kim Jong Il during his visit to China, the article provided evidence of why Kim’s loss of weight is not due to dieting.
Kim Jong Il is a person who is not generous to others and cannot be strict on himself. His nephew-in-law, Lee Han Young (assassinated by North Korea spies in 1997) testified, “Kim Jong Il tried a diet advised by a German doctor and attempted to go up and down the stairs, but later gave up.” Kim is not a person who can be harsh on himself.
Kim Jong Il refused to visit the US when the former US President Clinton invited Kim at about the end of his term. This was known to the world when Kim Dae Jung, the former South Korean president, said in 2003 on the KBS TV show “Sunday Special,” “President Clinton sent me a letter to invite Commissioner Kim to visit the US.”
At the time Kim Jong Il had had the Normalization Summit with South Korea and China, and normalization in process with Japan. The US Secretary of State Albright visited North Korea and Cho Myung Rok, the Commissioner of Political Safety Division of the General, visited the US to bring the missile agreement to realization. It was the perfect opportunity for Kim Jong Il to visit the US and break the last curse and improve US-DPRK relations. Yet Kim Jong Il did not visit the US.
Kim Dae Jung lamented on the show that, “Because Commissioner Kim didn’t visit the US and the American administration shifted to the Republic Party, everything returned to the starting point.”
Why Kim Jong Il wasted the historical golden opportunity?
If Kim Jong Il wanted to meet Clinton and improve US-DPRK relations, he had to abandon the nuclear weapons. He had to choose between normalization with other nations by giving up the nuclear or maintaining the dictatorship by holding onto the nuclear. Kim Dae Jung’s lamentation about Kim Jong Il’s refusal to visit the US was nothing more than his own greed to show off the good results of his Sunshine Policy, which would have appeared as a happy ending with Kim Jong Il’s visit to Clinton.
Reformation Not Likely Unless Kim Abandons the “Military-First Politics” and “Suryeong”
Kim Jong Il will not pursue liberalization and reformation by himself. Kim Jong Il will not be convinced by tricks or inducement. Rather, the most effective way would be to grasp Kim Jong Il’s neck and send the strong message that “if you do not liberalize, you cannot help but sit there and die.” That is the only way to save the 23 million North Korean people.
In light of such a view, the two track strategy that pursues financial sanctions (pressure) and the six-party talks (dialogue) by the US is very rational and logical. Furthermore, the financial sanctions seem to have a certain effect in drawing out changes in Kim Jong Il.
Now that Kim Jong Il has visited China, it seems most likely that North Korea will take another one of the limited “reform gestures” similar to the 7.1 Economic Measure or the Shinuiju Special Region. That will serve to earn some credit from China and South Korea and ultimately assist the Roh administration in creating a friendly environment to win the next election. However, the North’s limited gesture will hardly continue as the Chinese-style liberalization and reformation. Unless Kim Jong Il abandons the military-first politics and the Suryeong system, there is no chance for liberalization and reformation for North Korea.
