PYONGYANG – When Mr Kim Jong Un, the leader of North Korea, ascended to power more than a decade ago, he repeated two promises that his family has made since founding the country in 1948: to strengthen the military and to improve the economy.
It is smuggling coal and stealing cryptocurrency. It is also trying to squeeze every bit of cash from the public, selling smartphones and other imported goods to the moneyed class, as well as collecting “loyalty” donations in exchange for political favours. As he has pursued his dual goals, he has used a blend of propaganda and terror, purging or executing anyone standing in his way, while presenting himself as a “people-loving” leader in state-run media. He has made the government relatively less opaque, delivering frequent speeches and making decisions through broad party meetings. Mr Kim even apologised for his shortcomings, tossing aside the myth of a faultless, godlike leader.
Although some recent ICBM tests have failed, North Korea is believed to have enough plutonium and enriched uranium to produce 45 to 55 nuclear weapons and may have already assembled 20 to 30 warheads, according to an estimate from the Nuclear Information Project with the Federation of American Scientists.