(EDITORIAL from the Korea Times on April 11)- Kim Jong-il's choice

Journalism manuals say widely expected events hardly make news. So it's no news that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il was reelected to another five-year term by its rubberstamp parliament Thursday. And if the recent occurrences in the communist state are any guide, no news will likely be good news for the isolationist regime ??? and the world ??? for the time being.

The problem is, Kim will not let things go that way. As seen in the North's
rocket launch last Sunday, he is dying to grab the world's, particularly
America's, attention to repackage it into "respect" ??? or at least fear ??? to
bolster waning influence on his people.
It's ironic that the reclusive state, which bases its existence on "juche
(self-reliance)" philosophy, has come to beg for the world's interest in it. And
so much so that the impoverished country had to shell out $300 million, one fifth
of its annual budget and enough to feed its starving people for a year, on the
multipurpose fireworks, not the least of which was to reaffirm the near-bankrupt
country would continue to pursue the "military-first" policy.
But nothing could disappoint the outside world more than the North's adherence to
this decades-old principle. The inter-Korean contest for legitimate leadership on
the Korean Peninsula was decided in economic terms nearly a half century ago when
the North opted for a closed system while the South moved toward an open,
export-oriented economy.
Pyongyang's leadership even lost what it claimed as moral superiority over Seoul
when it let 1 million North Koreans starve to death rather than introducing
reforms and asking for foreign aid. No leaders in their right minds would let
such a huge tragedy happen, even if wanting to keep pride in their system of
government or the stability of their leadership.
It's not certain whether and how long the 67-year-old Kim, exposed to the
aftereffects of a stoke, will remain in charge or hand over power to one of his
sons.
In either case, however, there is little future for North Korea, which has been
living on borrowed time since long time ago, unless it changes itself drastically
through reform and openness. This is no time for the North Korean leadership to
deceive its people ??? and itself ??? with the ``half success" of a long-range
missile to turn itself into a novice nuclear power.
China succeeded at nuclear testing in the 1960s, which was followed by a famine
of historical proportion and ideological witch- hunts. Likewise, dozens of
thousands of nuclear warheads laden on top of intercontinental ballistic missiles
could not prevent the collapse of the former Soviet Union. Only after these
bigger communist brothers turned toward greater reform and liberalization did
they emerge as more equal to their capitalist rivals.
Kim ought to ask himself why North Korea is low on the list of priorities of the
Barack Obama administration, which has already extended olive branches to
longtime adversaries of Iran and Cuba. Obama's envoy to North Korea, Steven
Bosworth, is just an assistant secretary-level official, and he's even doing the
job as a part-timer. The only way to change this and fetch greater outside
respect for Kim is for him to change himself and his country.
The North Korean leader also needs to ride on the notably eased stance of his
South Korean counterpart, President Lee Myung-bak, who has hinted at sending an
envoy. Lee has also said denuclearization should not necessarily be a
prerequisite for all inter-Korean dialogue, and that he has never completely
denied the previous summit accords.
It's entirely up to Kim Jong-il whether he will go down as a sinner against the
nation and the laughing stock of history, or a repentant ??? if belated ???
reformer. The only good from the North then would be its shift to "people-first"
policy.
(END)