Knowing that Dad could not be around to protect always, Son had put together his own honor guard in case there was a coup, had created an airstrip with personal planes for a hasty exit, and had dug tunnels the 25 miles from Pyongyang to that strip.

Martin relates an incident that occurred in 1993, when Jong-Il was eveidently fearing an attack. He was reportedly nervous, and had a serious horseback riding accident in which he fell and broke all his teeth and injured his head and arms.

Dad was only technically in charge at times, yet he was still visible and especially so in June of 1994 when Jimmy Carter was sent over to have a chat with the Korean patriarch. The outcome of the talk pointed to a freeze of NK's nuclear program and resumption of dialogues with Washington. Father was bent on reform, even in what turns out to be the last year of his life. Martin says that his son, the present ruler, interfered with this process, made his father angry, and perhaps hastened the day of his death.

Whatever the cause, the 80+ year-old dictator did actually die. We all do, unless the Messiah of Israel and Saviour of the Church returns first. Death is usually not a welcome visitor, and it seems odd that we hail it now as one, but if a regime can change in this way, let it be. Unfortunately the change in 1994 was in a different direction than had been hoped.

Officially and publicly Kim Jong-Il encouraged his people to weep over his father's death. In fact, when the public mourning seemed to end after only three days, Son began punishing people if he saw them straight-faced and non-chalant about this horrific death. So they cried on.

Next time in this cycle we will talk about life after the "Great Leader", or if there even could be such a thing in North Korea.