block the revolutionary advance of our party, army, and people that are moving forward under the wise leadership of great Comrade Kim Jong Un.
The North Korean regime was not shy about lionizing the youthful and inexperienced new leader.
For Kim Jong Un, his father’s funeral was the climax of a public succession that had begun in earnest just a few years before. The U.K. ambassador to Pyongyang reported that officials toasted Kim Jong Il and his son, the “young general,” at national events. Octogenarian elites bowed deeply in front of Kim Jong Un on state television. The regime not only touted the continuity from Kim to Kim but also marketed the younger man as a reincarnation of his revered grandfather, down to the same dark suit and haircut, even girth.
But it wasn’t clear whether Kim Jong Un wanted the burden of being North Korea’s leader. If the elites did not accept him, instability, mass defections, a flood of refugees, bloody purges, even a military coup could ensue. Would a brash, reckless, untethered Kim wield his newfound power, including an inherited nuclear arsenal, in a fit of military adventurism? Was his goal to dominate North Korea’s policy and behavior, or would he be more open to eliciting counsel from those around him?
Asia watchers predicted Kim’s imminent fall, overthrow, or demise: “North Korea as we know it is over. Whether it comes apart in the next few weeks or over several months, the regime will not be able to hold together.” Surely someone in his midtwenties with no leadership experience would be quickly overwhelmed and usurped by his elders. There was no way that North Koreans would stand for a second dynastic succession, unheard of in Communism, not to mention that his youth was a critical demerit in a society that prizes the wisdom that comes with age and maturity. North Korea was poor and isolated, unable to feed its people. Even if Kim did manage to hold on to his position by clinging to the country’s nuclear and missile programs for legitimacy and prestige, the collapse of North Korea seemed more likely than ever.
As Kim solemnly marched alongside his father’s hearse, he was accompanied by a ring of senior party and military officials, the so-called Gang of Seven. Their prestigious role in the funeral and symbolic placement around the new successor suggested that Kim Jong Un had the support of the old guard and the status quo would continue. Most experts saw these seven regime veterans as probable mentors for the young leader, at least for the near future, and some predicted an evolution of the Kim family’s personality cult: Kim Jong Un would be a figurehead, and these “regents” would eventually call the shots in North Korea.
That was then. In the ensuing years, Kim would use the mechanisms of authoritarian control—repression and fear, co-optation of elites, and control of military and security forces—to consolidate his power and bolster the personality cult that had girded the legitimacy of his grandfather and his father as the sole leaders of North Korea. But Kim was not satisfied with simply maintaining this inherited infrastructure of control. In the journal Asian Perspectives, Patrick McEachern, an analyst in the U.S. State Department and an astute observer of North Korea, details how Kim centralized his power by reducing the institutional roles of the military and cabinet and placing the Korean Workers’ Party under his singular leadership. Within the first two years of his reign, Kim purged, executed, demoted, and otherwise removed or marginalized five of the Gang of Seven, while jealously assuming key leadership positions himself. His innate flexibility and adaptability were in evidence as he sharpened his tools of coercion, using new technologies (cyber) and old (chemical and biological weapons), muscularly pressing forward to thrust North Korea into its place in the world as a nuclear-armed power capable of potentially striking the United States.
Despite the enormous influence that Kim Jong Un exerts over current geopolitics and the danger he poses to global security, most people know next to nothing about him. Fascination with North Korea has sparked a deluge of articles, documentaries, and expert interviews to meet the demands of a public hungry for information about the young dictator who dominates the news cycle, as well as interpretation of his actions. Unfortunately, most of the accounts and reporting are simplistic, lacking deep analysis and understanding of the historical and geopolitical contexts. The wonky Washington-speak of national security ignores both Kim’s individuality and style and North