North Korea's reported nuclear test is not the first time Kim Jong-il has provoked the world and dismayed even his closest allies.
Since inheriting power in 1994, Kim has solidified his international reputation as an unpredictable leader whose intransigence has deepened North Korea's isolation.
Abroad, many consider the pudgy, bouffant-haired Kim a ruthless dictator who seeks atomic weapons while starving his people. But at home, the state-run media hails the "Dear Leader" as a prodigious general, an ace film director and the "Lodestar of the 21st Century."
Kim's latest nuclear standoff with the world stretches back to 2002 when Washington accused North Korea of developing a secret nuclear weapons program in violation of an earlier agreement. That year, US President George W. Bush branded the communist country part of an "axis of evil," along with Iran and Iraq.
Kim, 64, has since taken North Korea on an increasingly confrontational path, withdrawing from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, and culminating in yesterday's claim of nuclear weapons test.
In July, North Korea launched seven missiles into the Sea of Japan, ignoring international warnings and drawing condemnation from the UN Security Council.
The regime's report of a nuclear test came despite intense diplomatic appeals. China, the North's closest ally, quickly declared it was "resolutely opposed" to the move.
Nuclear weapons give North Korea an unparalleled deterrent from attack, something Kim has increasingly feared after watching the US invade Iraq and topple former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.
The West's demonic image of Kim, however, goes back years before he took power. It is based in part on suspicions that he masterminded a 1983 terrorist bombing in Myanmar that killed 17 South Korean officials and the 1987 bombing of a South Korean airliner that killed all 115 people aboard.
Kim has ruled his country with a "military first" policy since the 1994 death of his father and North Korea's founder, Kim Il-sung. He controls the world's fifth-largest military, the 1.1 million-strong People's Army.
Some experts now believe North Korea may have separated plutonium enough to develop an arsenal consisting of four to 13 nuclear weapons, compared with estimates of one or two nuclear weapons in 2000.
Biographical insight on Kim is extremely sketchy. He rarely appears in public and his voice is seldom broadcast.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was