re: #80 wheat-dogg

It could happen, but not while Kim is leader. In North Korea, the Kims are adored as demigods. Reunification with the South would require he step down or at least relinquish much of his power, which would destroy the cult of personality the Kims have fostered for the last six decades. OTOH Hirohito relinquished his godhood at the end of the Second World War, to the astonishment of his people, but Japan quickly recovered from that shock. So, anything is possible.

I’m really flabbergasted at this turn of events. After all his sabre-rattling, Kim has decided to be a statesman instead of a warmonger.

He may have just decided that he did not like being dictator. He didn’t really ask for the job after all. I had not thought of the Hirohito analogy. It is a good one though. Both Hirohito and Kim had godlike status created for them largely by others. This is in contrast to Stalin, Hitler, Mao, and a variety of lesser cutthroats who consciously created their own personality cults.