'To Bless All Mankind' December 18, 2017 Issue

The tiny cracks inside North Korea

The <i>Monitor’s</i> Editorial Board

Adapted from an article published in The Christian Science Monitor, July 5, 2017.

With conspicuous ceremony on the Fourth of July, North Korea launched a missile that had more than a technological purpose. It aimed to promote fear. With each new test, North Korea is clearly trying to send a message: With each passing day, its circles of destruction widen.

Yet earlier this year, a different kind of message was sent—this time to North Korea. It came from the highest-level North Korean defector in years, and he offered an assessment perhaps as frightening as a missile test to Kim Jong-un’s regime. “Kim Jong-un’s days are numbered,” said the diplomat, Thae Yong-ho.

Such pronouncements are not new. The collapse of the Kim dynasty has been forecast too many times to mention. Moreover, it is virtually impossible to confirm the credibility of Mr. Thae’s comments. Certainly, he is not an impartial judge.

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