Behind The Times

Kari Travis | Managing Editor

North Korea is famous for its Kims.

First there was Kim Il-Sung. Then came Kim-Jong Il. Now we have Kim- Jong Un.

It's all delightfully Kim and Jong and Il and Sung. But aside from observing that the family name of the North Korean dictatorship lives on, do we really know what's really going on in that part of the world?

Since we can't possibly live in ignorance forever, it's time to dig in and diagnose what should be widely known as the North Korean dictator's disease.

First facts first. Let's look back several decades to 1945, at the end of World War II. Japan, which was the occupying ruler of Korea at the time, was kicked out of the territory by Russia and the U.S. In order to be fair, the two countries split Korea in half. Russia got the north. The U.S. got the south.

Think about it like an equal opportunity for communism and capitalism. We won't get bogged down in too much detail, but the U.N. soon swooped in and supervised Korean elections in 1948 so that each half of the territory could begin the process of self-rule. The northern half became the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and the southern portion stayed with the simple but effective title of the People's Republic of Korea. (Please keep in mind that the northern

"democratic" state would soon become the communist playground. The irony just keeps coming.)

But there was a catch.

Neither side wanted to relinquish sovereignty over the Korean state as a whole. This resulted in a little ordeal commonly referred to as the Korean War.

Now here's where we get back to the Kims.

In 1948, the first North Korean dictator, Kim Il-Sung, was elected to office. Soon after, Il-Sung sent troops into South Korea, and the war conflict came to a head. That bloody ordeal lasted until 1953, when an armistice ended the violence but left both countries still technically at war. (That's another story for another day.) In 1994, Il-Sung died and left his son to rule in his place.

It was the rise of Kim-Jong Il, super sneak politician.

From the beginning of Jong-Il's rule in 1994, the leader did a great job when it came to formally complying with nuclear disarmament accords.

But those diplomatic efforts were a cover-up.

In 2002, Jong Il's government was caught secretly pursuing a program to develop enriched uranium. And that wasn't all. A nuclear test explosion in 2006 confirmed that North Korea was building its weapons arsenal.

Just so we can avoid what is a very long and nuclear obsessed story, we'll skip ahead to the most recent and relevant plot kicker in this tyrannical family's melodrama.

Following Jong Il's death in 2011, his son Kim-Jong Un rose to his place as Supreme Leader. The western educated Jong Un, who has an acquired taste for high-end cars, TVs, computers and liquor, is quite the playboy ruler, according to Business Insider.

These frivolous tastes, however, have not deterred Jong Un from continuing the pursuit of nuclear weapons.

According to a recent report from the New York Times Jong Un is putting North Korea's weapons program on the fast track.

But experts are still uncertain about what measures the new and inexperienced leader may take in the future, according to a report from CNN. South Korean officials who are closely observing Jong Un claim he appears to be trying to introduce economic reform to make a better life for his people.

The bottom line is, it's just too soon to tell how radical a ruler Jong Un will be.

For now, all we can do is educate ourselves and watch developments with careful scrutiny. Maybe, just maybe, that knowledge will have as much power as the continuing Kim dynasty.