[Column] Classic dictator behavior

Kim Hyung-chul

The author, Lt. Gen. (Ret.) of the ROK Air Force, is president of the Korea Institute for Military Affairs and a member of the military affairs division of the JoongAng Ilbo’s Reset Korea campaign.

North Korea fired more than 65 missiles on 40 occasions last year and even sent drones into our airspace. During the provocations in November, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un brought his daughter Kim Ju-ae to two events related to Hwasong-17 long-range missiles. On New Year’s day, North Korea made public that Kim Jong-un held his young daughter’s hand and inspected what was believed to be a KN-23 missile, an advanced short-range missile. North Korea experts said it had strong political implications linked to his power succession. They also said it was a potent symbol aimed to heighten the regime’s image of stability.

As I watched Kim’s moves, I was reminded of “The President,” a Netflex movie about a dictator released in 2017. In the movie, a president wielding absolute power demonstrates his might to a grandson by turning off all the lights in the city and turning them back on with a single phone call, as they was ordering a custom night view of the city. The grandson says he also wants to exercise such power, and makes an order through a phone call to turn off the lights. All the lights — including the presidential palace this time — go off. When the grandson orders them back on, it doesn’t work. Instead, sounds of gunshots and explosions are heard.

On the next day, the dictator sends his family into exile in another country and tries to handle the situation with the grandson. But the country was on the brink of revolution after years of people suffering from poverty and starvation and soldiers who turned into bandits. The dictator manages to flee to a beach, but there is no boat. He hides inside a sewage pipe as a mob approaches. The film ends as he is arrested. The movie was reminiscent of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, the dictator of Yemen who was executed by rebel forces, and Muammar Gaddafi, the ruler of Libya who was captured and executed while hiding inside a sewer pipe.

Many dictators, after they seized power through coups or other means, confronted resistance and faced miserable fates. Congo’s Mobutu Sese Seko, who seized power in a coup in 1965, ruled his country for 32 years of a corrupt dictatorship. In 1997, he was expelled by rebels and died in Morocco.

Saddam Hussein, who participated in a coup in 1968 and became president of Iraq in 1979, wielded dictatorial power for decades. U.S.-led forces invaded the country to ostensibly get rid of his weapons of mass destruction, which didn’t exist, and captured him in 2003. He was executed in 2006.

Uganda’s Idi Amin, who seized power in a coup in 1971, ruled the country until 1979. During his rule, he massacred nearly 500,000 people. To redirect domestic rage, he started an invasion of Tanzania but was defeated. After being expelled, he lived in exile in other countries, including Libya and Iraq, and died in Saudi Arabia in 2003.

After being elected president of Serbia in 1989, Slobodan Milošević resigned from power in 2000 after committing ethnic cleansing in the Bosnian War and the Kosovo War. He died in prison in 2006 during a trial for war crimes.

A dictator who wields power in defiance of the people will eventually lose the people’s trust, be kicked out of power and face a miserable ending even if he or she is a legitimate leader.

Nicholas II, the last tsar of the Russian Empire, was born as the legitimate eldest son of Crown Prince Alexander III. He was a ruler with legitimacy who ascended to the throne in 1896. But he ignored his people’s desires for reforms and ordered the Imperial Guard to open fire on striking workers, causing many casualties in the “Bloody Sunday” incident. That eventually led to the Russian Revolution in 1917. Removed from power, Nicholas II and his family were all executed in 1918 by the revolutionary army.

From ancient times, the people are compared to water and the ruler to a boat. Water allows a boat to stay afloat, but it can sink a boat. It is a big mistake to think the North Korean people will forever obey the dictatorship of the Mount Paektu bloodline. Nuclear weapons may help stop outside threats, but they will not satisfy the hearts of the hungry and suffering people. The North Korean regime appears to be heading to an end pretty soon, as Kim Jong-un was pressured to show off his power even to his young daughter.

Translation by the Korea JoongAng Daily staff.