Facts About North Korea After 10 Years Of Kim Jong Un's Rule

If you are a lover of politics then you will know that in December 2021, leader Kim Jong Un celebrated 10 years of ruling in North Korea. So what happened to North Korea, when it fell into the hands of this 27-year-old guy, let's take a look back at these 10 years.

On December 17, 2011, leader Kim Jong Il of North Korea, Kim Jong Un's father passed away from heart disease and young Kim Jong Un automatically became the country's youngest leader at the age of 27. Both the West and the North Korea people are skeptical, whether this young man can do anything or not? Will someone share power and run the country with Un, or Un will soon make North Korea fall, and then North and South Korea will merge into one. In general, not many people believe in the ability of this young man.

As for Kim Jong Un's style, there are also two streams of opinion. One is the people who think: "Un is still young, probably just following his grandfather and doing it in the tradition, so there are few mistakes and North Korea is still as old and backward as before". The other two is that Un can go to school in Europe, sometimes follow Europe, open the country to the country, people sing and dance.

However, all the rumors are not true or in short, Kim Jong Un is not a medium type, in fact he is a very dangerous type, which is shown through 10 years in power as follows.

Perhaps the first issue to discuss is that the acquisition of power without anyone's support, Kim Jong Un decided to raise the sky with one hand. Surely many of you simply think that; "In the country of North Korea, it's no different from the feudal period, the Kim father and son are kings, so they can take the throne, who dares to do anything to worry about it."

It's really not like that, despite jumping to the most powerful seat, Kim Jong Un still faces many challenges, he has an older brother, he also has family members and he has both army generals, all of whom were able to rob or at least share a portion of power, so Un carried out a number of purges.

The first was the trial of his uncle Jang Song Thaek in 2013 for treason, the execution was reported to the media. That led many analysts to assess that: "Un is more brutal than his father", his father also purged many people but kept it secret, not so public.

The second is the assassination of half-brother Kim Jong Nam with VX poison in Malaysia.

Third, in 2016, Un dissolved the National Defense Commission, replacing it with the State Affairs Commission, a move that removed several senior military members and added many other ministry leaders. Thus, both reducing the influence of the army on the country, and bringing close people to power.

4th was at the 8th party congress, Kim Jong Un removed portraits of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il from the background, which is a North Korean tradition. During this meeting, the party also removed the term "military policy first" from the preamble to the charter and included "people-first politics".

As such, not only has Kim Jong  Un sought to reduce the power of the military, but he has also attempted to separate himself from the shadows of his father and grandfather. He built his own image of a less authoritarian leader who put the interests of the people first.

Regarding domestic policy, Kim Jong Un proved to be a modern man and close to the people, he often appeared in the media with a smiling face and a hug with students. This is in stark contrast to his father, Kim Jong Il, who is almost extremely restricted from taking pictures with civilians.

Not only being friendly, the North Korean leader is also more open to the media and honest with the public. For example, when a North Korean rocket exploded after launch in April 2012, the state's official media was allowed to cover the incident, which is believed to be an extremely rare development. By contrast, when North Korea failed to launch a satellite in 2009 under Kim Jong Il, state media were forced to say the launch was a resounding success. Or during the August 2020 meeting, Kim Jong Un admitted that North Korea did not achieve any of its five-year economic goals. Thus, in general, the new leader of  North Korea is honest, less deceitful than the previous generation and is trying to regain the trust of the people. However, despite its openness and modernity, North Korea still tightens its grip on the penetration of South Korean and Western culture.

 

Regarding foreign affairs, it seems that North Korea will have more hope in the future, when Kim Jong Un is ready to sit at the negotiating table with the US, between Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump has held three meetings directly but unfortunately both sides are too tough and can't agree on anything. Anyway, it shows that Un has been a bit more flexible in diplomacy, but it does not mean that he is weaker or more cowardly than his father.

In fact, in 2017 alone, the North Korean leader conducted three intercontinental ballistic missile tests and one nuclear test. Despite the threat of the US President, adding up all under Kim Jong Un, North Korea has conducted more than 120 missile tests, while his father and grandfather's lifetime have only tested thirty times.

Thanks to this persistence, North Korea already has an arsenal of missiles, covering many different ranges. Some types can be equipped with nuclear weapons. The country began flight testing of the BM-25 Musudan missile in April 2016, but it took five failures before successfully launching it in June 2016.

In 2015, the country also experienced three failed tests of the KN-11, a submarine-launched ballistic missile, and succeeded in August 2016.

Looking back after 10 years, Kim Jong Un is still in charge of  North Korea and the country has not collapsed but also has not opened up, neither of the predictions were correct.

Instead, Kim Jong Un has consolidated power in the country, built up North Korea's nuclear and missile arsenal, and improved the country's relations with its traditional ally and biggest trading partner is China.

Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, a big challenge for the country's economy, Kim Jong Un still shows more confidence than ever. The video has consulted with Professor Naoko Aoki, a researcher at the Center for Security and International Studies, University of Maryland.