From Metafilter I came across this fascinating article from the UK newspaper The Independent on the power struggle going on in the North Korean government. There are many fantastically odd and sad things about North Korea a few of which are pointed out by the article:

• all mobile phones were confiscated in May 2004 after a train explosion was rumoured to be an assination attempt against Kim Jong Il. His eldest son apparently avoided assassination in Austria recently and "Kim Jong Il's sister, Kim Kyong-hee, was seriously injured in a traffic accident, which is assumed to have been an attempt on her life."
• it can be considered a hereditary Communist dictatorship which keeps Confucian traditions. It is beyond me how any of these descriptors can be considered accurate as even "dictatorship" pales to describe what goes on there,
• most of the leading members of the governing family appear to be fantastic alcoholics, the description of one as "a spoilt overweight figure who drinks heavily" not actually being much of a helpful description if it was an attempt to differentiate one from another, and
• Beijing has moved some 60,000 troops from the Shenyang garrison to the border in case it needs to intervene.

The news we receive is so slim. For all we know it may be that Kim Jong Il may actually be trying to find a way out for his country but that the myth of his god-like status is making it impossible for any reforms to be accepted by member of the leadership clique who share that "divinity". It is more likely, however, that the government there will simply collapse rather than fall and that soon the world will be exposed to the horror of the work camps, the effectively planned famines and day-to-day miseries of what can only be considered a brain-washed nation. There will have to be restructuring on a scale unseen in the post-Communist era. I wonder if adult education will be required on a wide scale to undo the indoctrinations and, if so, how would that actually be done given the size of the population?