Eyes wide shut

Yesterday, the latest issue of Newsweek arrived in our mailbox, bearing an image of Kim Jong Il on the cover, a mushroom cloud reflected in his glasses.?‚? This man is desperate to be taken seriously by world leaders, and yet every time I see his picture, I can’t help but think of his marionette likeness in the movie “Team America”.

The vast majority of the North Korean people are ignorant of life outside North Korea, except for the propaganda fed to them.?‚? That sort of isolation – in a country with the capability to be a major political and economic player on the world’s stage – boggles my mind.?‚? They keep the masses in the dark and have sacrificed their best and brightest to their goals of nuclear advancement.?‚? The article briefly desribes the radiation poisoning that sickened and killed so many of the top scholars.

Apart from the frightening and desperately sad details of North Korea’s past and present, I have to wonder about its future.?‚? Will the DMZ someday be dismantled and?‚? tunnels turned into tourist attractions??‚? Will the border be opened and families reunited??‚? Will the people of North Korea finally get a clear view of the rest of the world?

And when they do – when they read articles such as this Newsweek cover story and see movies like “Team America” – what will be their reaction to how the rest of the world once viewed their country and their once-revered leader??‚? What will be their reaction to the priorities set forth by Kim Jong Il – the priorities that have resulted in the suffering of so many people for so long?

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