North Korea certainly deserves its title of the Hermit Kingdom of East Asia. Even today, for many that country remains a riddle wrapped up in an enigma. Does North Korea really have no COVID-19 cases? Has Kim Jong-un really executed people with a flamethrower? Is everyone there forced to get a Kim Jong-un haircut? As a North Korea watcher, in this podcast I do my best to provide short but detailed responses to these and other most common questions about this country. The podcast is powered by Anchor. For more details visit - askmeaboutdprk.wordpress.com
https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ask-me-about-dprk
episode 22: Episode 22 – Who was Kim Jong-il and how did he shape North Korea?
Kim Jong-il, the second ruler of the DPRK, transformed North Korea in many ways – willingly or not. During the years of his rule, North Korea became a semi-capitalist isolated society in possession of nuclear weapons, a country that would not leave the front pages of international mass-media outlets. An incompetent leader but a talented diplomat, Kim Jong-il managed to pull his authoritarian regime through the period of economic crisis – all that despite the ominous predictions of imminent collapse coming from American and European political scientists. In today’s episode we look at the political biography of Kim Jong-il and at the legacy he left behind.