When Syd Seiler arrived on the Korean Peninsula as a young U.S. military intelligence officer, the founder of North Korea’s ruling dynasty was still building some of the country’s first nuclear facilities
The founder of North Korea’s ruling dynasty, an isolationist totalitarian leader named Kim Il Sung, was still building some of the country’s first nuclear facilities when Syd Seiler arrived on the Korean Peninsula as a young U.S. military intelligence officer.
But the Kim family’s worry is not so much about an attack from outside, Seiler argues. He said in sticking to the nuclear program even at the expense of North Korea’s economy, Kim Jong Un has taken a lesson from deposed Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. A firing squad abruptly ended the communist leader’s rule in 1989 when his people rose up against him.
Worrisome possible outcomes include Russia helping North Korea beef up “its pretty antiquated ... museum-ready” conventional forces or its weapons of mass destruction, Seiler said. As Kim expands and improves his nuclear arsenal beyond what he would need for deterrence, he has sharpened his threats toward the south in the past 1 1/2 years while“North Korea was clearly developing capabilities that would enhance its position vis-à-vis South Korea. And so going forward, this is where the room for concern is,” Seiler said.
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