THE DESPOT

Swiss-schooled & ruthless, Kim is no crackpot

KIM Jong-un’s half brother Kim Jong-nam was meant to be the Supreme leader of North Korea.

But the eldest son of their father Kim Jong-il and first grandson of North Korea’s founder Kim Il-sung was too much a playboy. Caught visiting Tokyo on a fake passport in 2001, he was exiled. Kim Jong-il’s second son, Kim Jong-chul, was considered to lack the necessary ruthlessness.

So when Kim Jong-il died in 2011 the podgy, Swiss-educated, Kim Jong-un got the top job aged 27.

He inherited a creaking state of 22 million, a capital prone to power cuts and food shortages, and an illegal nuclear weapons programme.

Predictions of total collapse and young Kim’s ousting were common. Yet six years on Kim has played off Washington, Beijing, Seoul and Tokyo against each other and seemingly come out ahead. How?

Kim Jong-un learned utter ruthlessness from his grandfather. This has meant arrests, show trials and executions of at least 75 senior officials including his own uncle.

From his father he mastered the art of nuclear brinkmanship. Kim Jong-il halted his then-fledgling nukes programme in 1994 in return for oil and aid from the US. His son’s game plan may well be similar.

And finally, Kim Jong-un’s own special skill – scaring neighbouring China into supporting him. Kim knows Beijing fears the prospect of American troops on its doorstep.

To write Kim Jong-un off as simply a belligerent crackpot would be to underestimate him.