Kim Jong Il

With the collapse of Communism across Europe, later followed by the death of North Korean premier Kim Il Sung in 1994, foreign policy experts predicted that son and heir Kim Jong Il would soon land on history's trash pile. The experts were proved wrong when the reclusive Kim displayed an eccentric, impressive survivor's instinct: today, while people in the countryside starve, Kim's massive, trained, equipped, and well-fed army is located within easy striking distance of South Korea's capitol of Seoul, and Kim expertly uses nuclear bluster and bluff to win concessions from the West. Cutting through the myths, while at the same time revealing the depressing conditions of life under one part of what President Bush calls the "axis of evil," this entry from A&E's Biography series features details about Kim's obscure early years, his lavish lifestyle and vanity (he compensates for his short stature with platform shoes and a teased up hairdo), and his ruthless repression of dissidents. Kim also displays an obsession with American movies, particularly slasher films, and indeed has stepped behind the camera himself to direct propaganda films (kidnapping a leading South Korean movie star and director for his movies). Produced, of course, without the cooperation of its subject and lacking intimate biographical detail, the program nevertheless includes chilling testimony from diplomats such as former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to help limn a frightening portrait of a true wild card in international politics. Recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (S. Rees)