Here is an interesting documentary about Adolf Hitler. I do not know who made the documentary, but that is not important. What this discussed was the psychological profile of Adolf Hitler. Apparently, this was never done before, but some shocking predictions were made based on his behavior and past. These were accurate from the documentary’s point of view.
One of the people discussing this profile is a man named Jerrold M. Post. Apparently, he never saw the analysis much later.
Now, what is interesting, and what I would like to know is, are there profiles of Kim Jong Il, Kim Il sung or the other cronies inside the regime? I am sure if there is such a thing, it is not for public consumption, but it would be very interesting to see something like that.
What makes Kim Jong Il tick? What kind of predictions can be made from such a profiling? Is it even an issue for intelligence? So I went looking around to see what I could find on Jerrold M. Post and the inner circle of the Juche regime.
The first link that caught my eye was a posting on Boing Boing. It seems the LA Times story is a dead link, but the quoted part was interesting:
Kim insists that his rice be cooked over a wood fire using trees cut from Mt. Paektu, a legendary peak on the Chinese border, according to a memoir written by a nephew of Kim’s first wife. He has his own private source of spring water. Female workers inspect each grain of rice to ensure that they meet the leader’s standards. (The nephew, Lee Young Nam, who defected to South Korea in the 1980s, was assassinated by suspected North Korean agents in Seoul in 1997.)
Kim’s refined palate is not merely a matter of idle gossip, but the subject of serious study by political psychologists trying to understand the North Korean leadership.
Jerrold M. Post, a psychiatrist who founded and was the longtime director of the CIA’s Center for the Analysis of Personality and Political Behavior, says Kim’s obsession with eating the best food comes from being the son of North Korean founder Kim Il Sung, revered by the propaganda machine as a god-like figure. Post diagnosed the younger Kim as a malign narcissist in large part based on information about his eating habits.
“This is how you prepare food and water for a god.”
Emphasis mine. However, what does this mean? What will Kim Jong Il do if things go badly? I am sure this may be a topic of importance, or is it? According to this, it seems like it may not be the case, but why?
The former South Korean Ambassador says this is a good thing: “Kim Jong Il loves life. He is a drinker, a womanizer, a gourmet. To start a war requires an ascetic like Hitler who doesn’t care if he lives or dies. But I can’t see Kim starting a war that he will surely lose.”
Hm, it does not seem that’s what Post says, and I do not know if Post went that far to analyze Kim or the other Kims. There is a book, and would like to read it someday. I think that would be a very interesting read indeed.
Update: Joshua has an good post about the reported worsening situation of food rations to Pyongyang’s elite and the rumors of shit away from the Songun Policy may spell doom for Kim. In light of this, if the reports are true, what could Km Jong Il do in time of crisis and/or outright desperation?
Another OFK Post that is related to this. And as you can see, several theories exist with a lot of debate. As with everything North Korea, nothing is ever clear, and maybe we may not know what Kim may do, so I will make a guess.
From what I read of the man, Kim is very spoiled, egocentric, reclusive, and lives in the shadow of his father. In fact, what I notice is Kim’s entire personality cult depends on the greatness of his father and how he was the loyal son who worked side by side according to propaganda. What did he do in reality? That is hard to say because there is little verified information on how Kim got to the helm of power, but there are some clues in the Policy Elites paper:
Kim Jong Il was designated as the Great Leader’s heir apparent at the age of 41 in 1973, despite vociferous opposition from his step-family relatives and some of Great Leader’s older revolutionary comrades-in-arms, who were later purged thrice in 1973-1974 (see below), in 1976-1977, and in 1986-1987 (see below). On the one hand, Kim Jong Il was promoted to top positions in the Workers’ Party of Korea: the WPK Central Committee Secretary (September 1973), Politburo member (February 1974), and member of the Politburo Standing Committee (October 1980). In 1980, at the Sixth WPK Party Congress, Kim Jong Il appeared in public for the first time next to his father, Kim Il Sung. By showing up together with his son, Kim Il Sung officially presented Kim Jong Il to the world as his heir.
So it seems Kim had to strong-arm his way to get into power. Now it goes on further, and gives some interesting insight on how he behaved. Notably, being in his father’s shadow and there seems to be some level of resentment. However, what else I noticed from Joshua’s post was a lack of self-esteem (other than the platform shoes and boofed hair):
Choi told a story that made the Dear Leader seem almost charming: One day, he came for a visit and asked, “What do you think of my physique?”
She hesitated, pondering how to answer such a question when it comes from a short, dumpy dictator known to execute his enemies.
“Small as a midget’s turd, aren’t I?” he said, smiling.
To me, this says a lot along with his paranoia. The paper goes on:
As an anointed successor and early disciple of traditional Korean neo-Confucian thought, Kim Jong Il feared and revered his father, and left all principal policy and strategy decisions for his final approval. When the Great Leader was still alive, the Dear Leader allegedly often felt frustrated at his inability to step into his father’s shoes and was seen as an under-performer by many outsiders. Consequently, pent-up frustrations allegedly led to a decadent lifestyle, bouts of alcoholism, and chain-smoking in the 1980s and early 1990s.
Yikes. And it goes to even further extremes:
[...]The Soviet heart specialists were immediately transported by helicopter from the Sunan International Airport to Myohyangsan, where Kim Il Sung’s comatose body was lying at one of his magnificent secluded residences. It took a total of forty-eight hours for these extraordinary medical miracle workers to bring Kim Il Sung back to life. They continued to monitor Kim Il Sung’s health progress until his full recovery in the following month. In other words, Kim Jong Il’s decisive action saved his father’s life and cemented the dictator’s trust in his son’s judgment and confidence in his filial piety.
But, on July 8, 1994, Kim Jong Il chose to move on. He launched a new era in Korean history when the court doctors were ordered to cease their efforts to maintain the 82-year old Great Leader’s life. [...]
So this suggests he let his father die? That may make sense considering his thirst for absolute rule and wanting to be out of his father’s shadow despite the propaganda that shows them together almost all of the time. Is that level of animosity still there? Did Kim Jong Il feel animosity to begin with? If this paper is correct, it may be that way. Now fast forward to today.
With wanting to keep the regime together at all costs, yet at the same time a reclusive, paranoid and low-self esteem, what will happen once the populace gets tired of his heavy-handed rule and fails to meet the happiness of the KPA and the elites which are so fundamental to keeping his power along with being able to send entire families to concentration camps and instill absolute fear?
I will venture a guess Kim Jong Il will not take this well and may do some drastic actions in a feeble attempt to get order restored, and when that fails because the elites and his army cannot rely on him for happiness (forget about the general population), will they simply not follow his orders anymore, the elites wind up doing their own thing (or may even try a coup) or the general population simply protesting when they feel there is a chance without the fear of the security apparatus (or if there is a security apparatus continue to protest like old Romania)? It seems it has to rot from the top-down, and once Kim does finally lose his grip on power, I can see him running away in exile somewhere. I cannot see him committing suicide because it seems that cannot be in his nature.
Is that what could happen once the Dear Leader fails to deliver?
Discuss.
Interesting read. I to have to visit this blog more often. Still hoping for the option that he will be dangling by the Great Leader’s monstrous idol in Pyongyang if the word rebellion ever enters into North Korean vocabulary.
I noticed some typos and some grammatical errors. I wrote this at 4 am, so I better be awake when doing these postings. Thanks for visiting DPRK forum.
Something from Jan 2006;
http://www.dprkstudies.org/2006/01/12/is-kim-jong-il-crazy-or-not/
Oh wow, I only saw one from OFK on Google. I also found stuff from “IN the loving care of the dear leader” or something like that. Thanks for the resource, Richardson.