We know, more or less, what we have to deal with in Kim Jong Il. We have no idea what will happen once he croaks. North Korea could stay the same, it could get better, or it could get worse. It could be a wild ride. His son could turn out to be the Korean Gorbachev, or he could turn out to be even madder than his father. And, in either case, it is unclear how much influence the dictator’s hirelings have in influencing policy.