Frontline Covers North Korea

Last night PBS's Frontline broadcast a great story about the hermit kingdom titled Secret Kingdom of North Korea:

Just two years on the job and armed with nuclear weapons, North Korea’s Kim Jong-un is the world’s youngest dictator, ruling one of the world’s most isolated countries with an iron fist. Like his father and grandfather, he is trying to maintain tight control over what the world sees of North Korea—and what North Koreans see of the world. But in Secret State of North Korea, FRONTLINE director James Jones shines a light on the hidden world of the North Korean people, drawing on stunning undercover footage from inside the country as well as interviews with defectors—including a former top official—who are working to try to chisel away at the regime’s influence.

You can either watch the program at the link above or you should be able to capture reruns of the program on your television over the next week or so (of course, iTunes also carries it).  It is well worth the efforts.  As usual, Frontline's coverage and story was exceptional and, in this case, scary.  On the PBS site you can also read a number of accompanying stories that discuss the past and future happening in the odd country.  For instance, one piece discusses the young Kim Jong-un, noting the future leader "...spent three years in a Swiss public school, posing as the son of a Korean diplomat under an assumed name. He was two years older than the rest of his class, and struggled because he spoke little German."  Clearly that little exposure to the West was not enough to transform Kim's ideas or save his country.