The world should brace for Kim Jong Un's pandemic retreat
Ten years ago, the world watched as a young Kim Jong Un solemnly walked beside his father's hearse on a snowy morning in Pyongyang as distraught North Koreans wailed in grief.
Kim's long black coat and hairstyle, reminiscent of his late grandfather Kim Il Sung, were viewed as a superficial effort to emulate the authority of his forebears.
But the 20-something heir to the North Korean leadership quickly grew into the role, and Korea watchers who were once sceptical of his rule now expect him to remain in power indefinitely -- assuming his health holds.
It's a marked change from the early days, when Joseph Yun, former US special representative for North Korea, remembers Kim as an object of ridicule.
There was so much negative caricature of Kim Jong Un in South Korea and China, almost making fun of him for a while. It was challenging for the international public -- South Korea and America -- to take him seriously," he recalled.
That view quickly changed as the young Kim displayed ruthlessness and decisiveness that belied his age.
Kim did not hesitate to purge or execute even those closest to him in a bid to tighten his grip on power. According to a state media report, his powerful uncle Jang Song Thaek, once presumed to be Kim's mentor, was executed in 2013 for "trying to overthrow the government".
And Kim's older half-brother Kim Jong Nam was assassinated with the nerve agent VX at Kuala Lumpur airport in Malaysia in 2017 while living in exile. However, North Korea denied any responsibility for the brazen assassination.
Now, few question Kim's authority, but some experts worry that his consolidated power could encourage him to take more significant risks -- and that, as Covid drives North Korea to become more isolationist, its leader will only become more dangerous.
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