Tearing Peace Into Pieces

The address by Donald Trump at the United Nation’s General Assembly on September 19 and the threat he held out that the US would “totally destroy North Korea” and the unbridled use of language dotted with phrases like “…but I’m going to handle it because we have to handle it: Little Rocket Man,” and the eventual acerbic retort threatening to nuke the US by Kim Jong Un reached a flashpoint. This is not only sending the proverbial chills down the spine of the nations who don’t have their skin in the game too, but even the markets are bleeding with skies overcast with fear of war.

Kim Jong-un took on the mantle of North Korea’s supreme leadership with little political or military experience behind him.

Kim Jong-il, North Korea’s “Dear Leader”, was in the process of grooming him as his successor when he died in December 2011.

Immediately after his father’s death, the younger Kim was hailed as “the great successor”. He was named head of the party, state and army within a fortnight of his father’s death.

Since then, he has shown he is committed to the pursuit of nuclear weapons and the advancement of North Korea’s missile programme.

He has also shown himself to be ruthless with the purge of his powerful uncle and the murder, widely attributed to an order from him, of his half-brother.

‘Morning Star King’

Kim Jong-un, the youngest son of Kim Jong-il and his third wife Ko Yong-hui, was born in 1983 or 1984.

He was initially not thought to be in the frame to take up his father’s mantle. Analysts focused instead on his half-brother Kim Jong-nam and older full brother Kim Jong-chol.

However Kim Jong-nam’s deportation from Japan in May 2001 and middle brother Kim Jong-chol’s reported “unmanliness” improved his chances.

Analysts saw him as the coming man after he was awarded a series of high-profile political posts.