With latest nuclear test, Kim Jong Eun signals a familiar, familial policy

One year ago, North Korea reneged on an agreement with Washington to halt weapons tests in exchange for food aid. Since then, the North has launched two long-range rockets, detonated a nuclear weapon, threatened in the state media to assassinate the South Korean president and vowed to abandon its nuclear program only if every other country also gave up its nuclear weapons. Media reports suggest that North Korea also continues to ship missile and nuclear parts to Syria and Iran.

Many analysts say North Korea has become more dangerous than it was under Kim Jong Il, who came to power in 1994 after Kim Il Sung’s death. The North’s latest nuclear test was its most powerful, according to South Korea’s Defense Ministry. The North’s December rocket launch was the first successful attempt, after three failures, to send a satellite into orbit. (There was an additional failed launch with no satellite.) The country has also drastically increased border security, slicing nearly in half the rate at which defectors have been able to reach South Korea.

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Inside North Korea: A rare visual tour inside the reclusive and secretive country.

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Timeline: Highs and lows in the relationship between North and South Korea

Building image, power

It remains unclear whether Kim is solely responsible for the North’s major decisions in the past year. Some analysts think he receives crucial guidance from a small team of family confidants, including his uncle and aunt. Others say he has quickly built up his individual power, and they note that four of the eight elder leaders accompanying Kim Jong Il’s hearse 14 months ago have since been removed or demoted.

When it comes to rocket launches and nuclear tests, North Korea’s state media tries to give full credit to Kim Jong Eun. Photos released by North Korea in December showed Kim in what appeared to be a mission-control room; he was smoking a cigarette while watching a large-screen panel.

After the nuclear test, North Korea again paid homage to the young leader, showing interviews on state-run television with residents of Pyongyang, presumably reciting state-approved talking points.

“Our leader Kim Jong Eun’s courage was made widely apparent to the world through this success,” one man said.

“If the enemies still make demands to us,” another said, “we will follow the leader Kim Jong Eun and pour fire and thunder on the heads of those enemies.”

Analysts and defectors say that some North Koreans do feel legitimate pride in the country’s weapons program. Others roll their eyes. After North Korea’s first nuclear test, in 2006 — a fizzle that outside nations called a failure — elite Workers’ Party members traveled the country, delivering lectures about the landmark event. In Chongjin, a town in the northeast, a street banner said, “A nation with 5,000 years of history presents itself to the world as a nuclear power,” according to Lee Gwang-lim, who lived there at the time and defected in 2007.

“I remember hearing people complain about the test, saying their daily survival was an imminent task, not the nuclear test,” Lee said.

“People had some hope for Kim Jong Eun about economic growth when he became a new leader,” Lee added. “But his policy only benefits officials and citizens in Pyongyang.”

Yoonjung Seo contributed to this report.