Kim Jong-un: A ticking time bomb?

About three years ago, I had a laughing fit when the late night TV talk show host funny man David Letterman in his show Late Night with David Letterman joked about Kim Jong-un by saying that Kim is "spending more time executing his family" than attending to state affairs. This comment was made after Kim Jong-un ordered his own uncle Kim Jang Song Thaek's execution for "acts of treachery" plus having the wrong kind of dreams.
His uncle was the second most important man in North Korea. In 2013, he was arrested when he was at a party meeting, and was found guilty of treason, and was quickly executed. Later it was widely reported that he and some other officers were actually fed to a pack of hungry hounds. Kim also had his uncle's entire family killed.
Such inhuman cruelty is extreme, even for a North Korean dictator.
Since his father Kim Jong-Il's death, 32-year-old Kim Jong-un, armed with nuclear arsenals, is one of the youngest leaders of a Communist country. He has been on a killing spree since he became the country's leader in 2011. His mission seems to be - elimination of the brainiest people in North Korea, in military-style execution.
No matter how hilarious Letterman sounded at the time to get such a reaction out of me, I am not laughing anymore. Kim Jong-un is showing no signs of slowing down with his sick need for killing others.
By each day he is getting more merciless in the way he has been ordering those executions. Now he is also demonstrating his brutality in the form of public execution by using heavy weaponries such as anti-aircraft gun and mortars in the killings, where the unsuspecting victim is shredded to pieces in front of hundreds of spectators.
Let us look at Kim Jong-un's latest target of gruesome public execution.
According to an online report filed by BBC's Stephen Evans in Seoul: "North Korea's Defence Minister Hyon Yong-Chol was killed on April 30 by anti-aircraft fire in front of an audience of hundreds." It further said, "Mr Hyon had fallen asleep during an event attended by Kim Jong-un and had not carried out instructions." The report source was Youhap news agency in South Korea.
During the anti-aircraft fire another military officer was also targeted. The executions were witnessed by hundreds in a military academy in Pyongyang, according to a South Korean intelligence source. It said, "Han was shot to pieces using an anti-aircraft gun firing 14.5 mm calibre rounds."
Some sceptics are downplaying the report of the latest execution by saying it is merely a propaganda by South Korea to demean North's status in the eyes of the world. Various reports did say that since the last day of April, Hyon hasn't been seen anywhere in public. That should put to rest the critics' speculations that the story is a mere fabrication. Such killings have become a routine affair for Kim Jong-un.
This chilling news came when the world was trying to recover from the shock of Kim Jong-un's official executions of 15 people. Among them were two senior vice-ministers who reportedly challenged Kim Jong-un over his policies. The rest were nine women who were members of the Unhasu Orchestra. They were publicly machine-gunned for allegedly spreading rumour about Kim's wife. South Korea's National Intelligence Agency was the source of this news.
 Kim Jong-un is getting rid of his competitors in a systematic manner. Some say he is more brutal than his father. Less than a year after coming to power, he had his deputy defence minister Kim Choi arrested for "insufficient grieving" for his father.
In 2011, six out of the seven pallbearers of Kim Jong-Il's coffin were either executed or lost their jobs or have not been seen since that time. The seventh person was Kim Jong-un himself, who is well and kicking, and is known for his fondness for Western goodies. Reportedly, he is spending his leisure hours smoking Yves Saint Laurent cigarettes, drinking Johnny Walker whiskey and listening to British rock and roll singer Eric Clapton's 1992 hit, Tears in heaven.
The other times when he is not plotting an execution he is stuffing himself with Swiss cheese (that explains his pudgy shape) and watching Denis Rodman basketball videos. His luxurious lifestyle is befitting a king in a country based on Communist ideology. While he is indulging himself with fine things in life with a beautiful wife Ri Sol-Ju by his side, his countrymen are starving due to a famine.
Hiding behind a boyish smile, Kim Jong-un is by far one of the cruelest heads of state in the 21st century! According to veteran Korea watcher Gordon Trigg Sr: "By almost every measure, the last three years have been more volatile, more unpredictable, potentially more dangerous, more irresponsible, than during the time of his father."
A UN report on North Korea's human rights situation stated: "The gravity, scale and nature of these violations reveal a state that has no parallel in the contemporary world."
North Korea has become more isolated since Kim Jong-un took the leadership of the country. After the Defence Minister's killing, Kim Jong-un has cancelled a scheduled visit to Moscow stating he has to deal with "internal issues." His impulsive decisions to kill his top men when he feels threatened indicate that Kim Jong is not feeling very secure. The country's stability cannot be trusted to his moods and whims.
Another recent execution of North Korea's top architect and a lieutenant Ma Won-Chun who was in charge of North Korea's finances, tells us that Kim is feeling vulnerable, getting rid of the talents and those who question his authority. These are all signs of a mad man. In 2013, Ma Won designed one of North Korea's newest ski resorts. Some very reliable news agencies have said this year alone King Jong-Un has ordered the execution of 15 other officers for challenging him.
Executing people cannot most certainly be his only choice. If that is not a sign of a man who is possessed by a devil filled with wicked ideas, then what is? According to US State Department, North Korea has one of the largest armies in the world. It's estimated active duty military personnel are about 1.2 million, compared to South Korea which has roughly about 680,000. In North Korea, one in every five man between ages of 17 and 54 is serving in the military.
"It is reasonable to assume that North Korea has the ability to produce a basic nuclear device, along the lines of those produced by the United States in the 1940s. It is also possible that North Korea gained access to more advanced nuclear designs." Intelligence analysts believe, "North Korea is capable of producing a small enough nuclear devices to put on a short and possibly a medium range ballistic missile (in range of Japan) but the extent of North Korea's ability to produce a nuclear device for a long range missile is in doubt." A recent South Korean intelligence assessment stated that delivery by aircraft was more likely and technically feasible than delivery by missile.
North Korea's nuclear capabilities are an important issue for global security, especially among nations of East Asia and beyond. Despite the amount of time officials and experts from many nations have invested on the issue, there appears to be no tangible progress with the key regional states. With a leader such as Kim Jong-un at the helm, managing nuclear diplomacy with North Korea has become even more unpredictable.
"North Korea might be able to deliver a nuclear sized payload by ballistic missile to the United States via the Taepo-Dong 2 missile." With so much power at the fingertip of a volatile leader such as Kim Jong-un, the world is at the mercy of a mad man. Surely, isolation cannot be an option in this regard, and the world has to be pro-active in tackling this menace for good.
Zeenat Khan is a fiction writer and a columnist.
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