Global Public Square - CNN.com Blogs

Global Public Square - CNN.com Blogs: "As North Koreans mourn the loss of their so-called "Dear Leader" this week, it is worth tallying up the best estimates of his regime’s abuses against its own people. One hopes that a new North Korean government, even if not prepared to criticize Kim Jong-il, will at least take quiet stock of his catastrophic legacy and resolve to do better in the future for the good of their own people.
That is an optimistic wish, given that many of the key leaders of the new government are, of course, precisely those who contributed to the mistakes and atrocities of the old one. But with a new top leader in the person of Kim Jong-un comes new opportunities as well. States such as Vietnam and China have proven that reform from within communist systems is possible, even when previous leaders have been brutal.
Consider the cruel highlights of the last 17 years, not including North Korea’s nuclear adventures but with a focus instead on what the regime did for, and to, its own people:"

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