Aggressive measures affecting North Korea, Iran and Venezuela have merely hurt the vulnerable and hardened attitudes
The sight of a tearful Kim Jong-un sobbing, not waving, at last weekend’s grand military parade in Pyongyang has upset the west’s familiar North Korea narrative. Was Kim putting on a show of contrition for failing his cruelly oppressed people, or was he genuinely distressed? Did it mean, despite the unveiling of yet another bigger, nuclear-capable, long-range missile, that the regime was losing its grip? Or is it simply Kim who’s lost it?
Given mounting pressure from UN and US sanctions and drastic falls in trade and aid caused by the pandemic, it would hardly be surprising if Kim were feeling the strain. Yet despite all the international hostility surrounding him, Kim’s sudden downfall or the chaotic collapse of his regime would be viewed as extremely dangerous and destabilising – at least in the short term.
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