[imText1]Once I heard that a police officer visited the house of a criminal who repeatedly committed crimes and came back stunned. He said that the house was locked with a triple-lock door system and he had also hired a famous private security company for better security. I laughed thinking that the criminal must have studied so much on how to break into other people’s houses that he so securely locked up his own house.
In fact, those who know how to rob lock up their houses better, those who know how to steal hide their stuff better and those who rape others educate their daughters better to avoid such situations. Those who know how to commit crimes also knows how to avoid victimization. It is the same as (internet) hackers who are also experts on building security walls in computer programs.
Looking at Kim Jong Il’s secret visits to China made me realize how this principle works. He has ordered terror plans many times so he feels more exposed to terror attacks against himself and tries so hard to avoid the threat. Look at him. He is like a puppy gnawing on a stolen piece of bread, slipping by the baker.
No More Shows, Show Us What’s Real
None of his visits to foreign countries were ever reported beforehand, but as soon as he crosses the border, reports come out a while later. Of course, North Korean internal news only reports after he returns to North Korea. Kim certainly seems afraid of the people.
Some would remember his long visit of 20 days to Russia in August 2000. All the stations where his “special train” were to pass by closed down, and police officers were posted at every 100m around the railway. They say the number of policemen involved were about 93,000. Including the bodyguards, the number reaches 100,000 so Kim certainly set a “record.”
All the places that Kim Jong Il were to visit, a complete guarding and “cleaning up” took place. Common people were prohibited to visit, all the stores and buildings closed. The areas within a couple hundred meters of the stations was completely closed off and all methods of transportation were cut off, which led to 25,000 people being unable to leave Moscow for the day. The Russian daily Izvestiya called such a situation the “ghost of Communism.”
There was no other case where such tight security was required for the visit of a foreign leader, thus even the Russian government paper wrote that, “Security for the president’s protection during the Chechen War is understandable but there is no reason why we have to suffer so much inconvenience for a foreign leader.”
Perhaps Kim Jong Il enjoys such serious and intense security and paying secret visits. It increases the price of his body and creates a mythical effect about him. However, once or twice would have been enough, since his recent visit to China did not bring about such effects at all. The Japanese media, which has an undying interest in North Korean issues used long distance lenses and secret cameras to trace Kim Jong Il while South Korean and other international media did not even bother.
It is the same for me. Who cares whether he enjoys a cruise or in which hotel he stays at or what he eats and drinks? Some say the places Kim is visiting are quite similar to Deng Xiaoping’s 1992 visit to Southern China and calls it “an alarming whistle to the North Korean reformation and liberalization,” but people used to say that since 2000.
Five years have passed. Until when will he keep just blowing the whistle? If he is even afraid to visit the neighboring countries and has been only blowing the whistle for five years, what is this if not a show or deception? We have had enough of shows. We want what’s real.
Comparing with Deng Xiaoping is an Insult to the Man
Those supportive of the Sunshine Policy believe that North Korea will take the reformation and liberalization policy similar to that of China or Vietnam. They say that if we keep on blowing the wind in that direction the boat will go that way. Kim Jong Il is not a fool. He certainly knows that if he does not liberalize, he will not be able to survive.
However, his repeated secret visits to other countries make us doubt even the possibility for North Korea’s minor liberalization. How could a man who is so afraid to visit even the neighboring countries become the leader of reformation and liberalization?
When Deng Xiaoping pushed for liberalization in 1978, did he post that many bodyguards and take secrets routes so nobody would find out whether he traveled by train or by plane?
Did Deng Xiaoping pay the historical visit to southern China secretively with few party cadres? Comparing Kim Jong Il’s visit to China with Deng Xiaoping’s visit to southern China would be an insult to the dead man. Kim Jong Il has accumulated so much sin that he is incomparable to Deng Xiaoping and dreaming about reformation and liberalization in North Korea under Kim Jong Il would be a mere illusion.
