![](\"http:\/\/cyber.law.harvard.edu\/blogs\/static\/dowbrigade\/sunglass_kim.jpg\")
A
\n new biography of Kim Jong-il, President of North Korea, by British author
\n Michael Breen, titled "Kim Jong-il: North
\n Korea’s Dear Leader," paints a bizarre and contradictory portrait of
\n the eccentric Communist.<\/p>\n
Breen is a veteran British journalist with 20 years’ experience \n <\/p>\n \n To characterize Kim Jong-il, for instance, the author cites an unconfirmed Recounted later is Kim Jong-il’s bizarre kidnapping of a film industry Mr. Breen makes a passing effort to be fair. Though describing him Despite the obvious and terrible suffering of the North Korean population, We know that sounds callous and snotty, but consider how much more entertaining from Korea A new biography of Kim Jong-il, President of North Korea, by British author Michael Breen, titled "Kim Jong-il: North Korea’s Dear Leader," paints a bizarre and contradictory portrait of the eccentric Communist. Breen is a veteran British journalist with 20 … Continue reading
\n in Korea. A review in the Korea
\n Economic Reader<\/a> describes the book as "an adventure, filled with horror,
\n merriment and commentary running from the wry to the ribald." Some excerpt
\n from the review offer insights into the reclusive leader:<\/p>\n\n
\n incident in which the Dear Leader, after a hard night of drinking with
\n friends, grants a "fellow party animal" permission to execute
\n his wife. The apparent reason was that the wife was distressed at how
\n dissolute her husband had become in the Dear Leader’s company and had
\n impertinently complained about it in a letter to Kim Il Sung. Kim Jong-il,
\n who liked to party, preferred that his father be kept in the dark. <\/p>\n
\n couple from the South in an apparent effort to improve the quality
\n of movies made in the North. The infamously luxurious train journey
\n three years ago that Kim took across Russia to meet President Vladimir
\n Putin is colorfully recalled, complete with fresh lobster and dancing
\n girls. <\/p>\n
\n as a man who was once the world’s greatest consumer of wildly expensive
\n French cognac and who often had naked women on hand for various festivities,
\n Mr. Breen writes that "there are no consistent reports to suggest
\n that the North Korean leader is particularly debauched, at least no
\n more so than your average businessman in Asia."<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\n the Dowbrigade finds it strangely comforting that there remain a few bizarre
\n and colorful
\n megalomaniacs left in the world, in the oversized tradition of Papa Doc
\n Duvalier, Haille Sellassie, Idi Amin and Juan Peron. <\/p>\n
\n these guys are than the straight laced, boringly gray but infinitely more
\n successful megalomaniacs running the United States these days. Be that
\n as it may, this book sounds like an interesting read on a cold winter night…<\/p>\n
\n Economic Reader<\/a> (subscription newsletter)<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"