Out of the Picture?

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Despite rumors of Kim Jong Il's demise — specifically, of getting shot in the head by his nephew — the North Korean leader appears to be intact but as mystifying as ever. According to the Korean Central News Agency, the Dear Leader visited an army unit last week not only to hear soldiers recite poetry but also to present the young bards with gifts of automatic rifles. (Note to Kim: Fire your event planners.) But as reports trickle in from the hermetic communist kingdom that Kim's portraits are disappearing from public buildings, there are other signs the dictator is facing unaccustomed challenges to his grip on North Korea. Intelligence officials in South Korea testified last week that Kim recently purged his brother-in-law Jang Sung Taek for trying to establish his own military stronghold. Jang may also have become an obstacle to Kim's plans to hand over power to one of his sons someday.

But there is more plaguing the reclusive leader than mere palace intrigue. North Korea's timid economic reforms have failed to revive a flatlining economy, fueling only a surge in prices. This, coupled with a still insufficient food supply, led two United Nations agencies to estimate last week that foreign aid will be needed to feed more than a quarter of the country's population next year.

The forecast comes at a time when international goodwill is in short supply, as North Korea continues its nuclear grandstanding. George W. Bush made it clear last month that Kim is still in his cross hairs, and even normally nonbelligerent Japan is hinting at the need for regime change. "It is increasingly doubtful we will be able to achieve any results negotiating with the [current North Korean] government," influential politician Shinzo Abe said last week on TV. Meanwhile, one theory on why Kim's portrait no longer hangs next to his dead father's is that the son of "Eternal President" Kim Il Sung is slowly dialing back the regime's cult of personality to lay the groundwork for further reforms. Maybe Kim shouldn't sack that p.r. team after all. By Julie Rawe. With reporting by Matthew Forney and Donald Macintyre