Kim Ready to Press The Buttom

Korean Central Television, North Korea’s state-owned broadcaster, announces the testing of a hydrogen bomb on w ednesday morning,

Colourful reports persist about Kim Jong-un’s eccentric lifestyle, fondness for partying and alcohol, and apparent obsession with western icons such as Michael Jordan and Eric Clapton. Photograph: KCNA/Reuters

 




The broadcast from Pyongyang includes images of former North Korean leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, as well as newsreel footage of scientists working at a nuclear facility
It rarely happens that one country’s actions unite the world in condemnation, yet this is what North Korea has achieved with reports of its latest underground nuclear test explosion. But this act of universal defiance has also underscored the long-running failure of the international community to rein in Kim Jong-un, North Korea’s youthful dictator, and the country’s dangerous military regime.

Impassioned denunciations of Pyongyang’s new year surprise rang out across the globe, from Washington and Brussels to Tokyo and Canberra. Russia, typically, warned that the test, the country’s fourth, would aggravate tensions and increase “the high potential for military and political confrontation” on the Korean peninsula.

But it was the reaction of China – ostensibly North Korea’s only friend – that was most significant. Beijing formally protested, expressed concern over radioactive fallout in areas bordering North Korea, and indicated it would support new, punitive UN security council action as demanded by South Korea, among others.

Maybe Beijing’s undisguised wrath will give Kim pause. But maybe not. In a deliberate poke in the eye for China’s leaders, he failed to inform them of the test in advance. Kim has refused to rejoin the Chinese-led six-party nuclear talks. In September, he snubbed an invitation by China’s president, Xi Jinping, to attend celebrations marking the end of the second world war. In fact, Kim has never visited his Chinese ally.
A visit to Pyongyang last October by Liu Yunshan, a senior Chinese party official, suggested relations were warming up. Now Kim has slammed the door again. In truth, China has less leverage over Pyongyang, both politically and in terms of trade and oil supplies, than is commonly believed. So perhaps the boyish Kim, the self-styled supreme leader, does not really care what “Big Daddy” Xi wants.
Or perhaps, more alarmingly, Kim does not know what he is doing.

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