North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, accompanied by his wife Ri Sol-Ju, greets athletes who won gold medals at the recent Asian Games, in this photo released on Sunday, October 19, 2014.[Photo: Imagine China]
Meet The Men and Women Who Help Rule North Korea From the Shadows -- Keegan Hamilton, VICE News
They are the world's most fearsome bureaucrats.
One is a cyber warfare expert and counterfeiter described by one expert as the "North Korean version of Dick Cheney." Another is the former chairman of the country's youth soccer and taekwondo associations. One is a thuggish enforcer, one is a mild-mannered consensus builder. They are the old, stern-faced men lurking in the background of propaganda photos while Kim Jong-un grins, points, and smokes cigarettes.
They helped Kim take over the regime, and they may ultimately be the people who rule for years to come.
Plenty of scrutiny has recently been focused on Kim, the country's Supreme Leader, who was conspicuously missing from public view for more than five weeks before seemingly reappearing in state-run media on Monday. Whether Kim was seriously ill, recovering from ankle surgery, being held captive, or merely spending time in the "hearts and minds of 25 million proud North Koreans," as the rumors and jokes suggested, the regime has appeared to withstand his absence.
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My Comment: Keegan Hamilton is correct in his analysis that even if the North Korean regime should fall tomorrow .... from the ashes will be the same people who have been running the place for decades. Goodbye to the old boss .... hello to the new boss .... but the bureaucracy lives on forever.
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