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Published on: 7/25/2007
Last Visited: 12/1/2007
As a part of the lecture series, Dr. Post have his presentation entitled, ¡°Kim Jong-il: In the Shadow of His Father.¡± In the beginning of his lecture, the speaker emphasized that the arguments made in his presentation are ¡°conjectural inferred, but by no means should be taken as engraved truth.¡±
Describing the relationship with Kim¡¯s father as ¡°unlike father, unlike son,¡± Dr. Post asserted that Kim Jong-il was raised to succeed what North Korea perceived as ¡°heroic, charismatic¡± and ¡°god-like¡± figure but without having any military or nation building experiences like his father.
However, by his early 30s, Kim held key consecutive positions in Korean Workers Party (KWP) departments such as Organization and Guidance Department, Propaganda & Agitation Department, and Culture and Arts Department.Through these appointments he was able to secure his powerbase and create ¡°myths¡± about himself that would justify his legitimacy as the sole successor.
Subsequently, the lecturer reported that by the early 1980s, he had assumed day-to-day control of North Korea, including intelligence apparatus.After assuming full power following Kim Il-sung¡¯s death, Kim Jong-il replaced those who had been loyal to his father for his own.This allowed Kim to secure ¡°the ultimate power¡± in which decision making process is made solely by Kim alone and not by committee.The speaker further pointed out that all military decisions are made by Kim with an exception of setting economic policy.Such structural flaw can ¡°contribute to misjudging the international consequences of major political actions,¡± said Post.
Dr. Jerrold Post is Professor of Psychiatry, Political Psychology and International Affairs and Director of the Political Psychology Program at The George Washington University.Dr. Post came to GWU after a 21 year career with the CIA where he was the founding director of the Center for the Analysis of Personality and Political Behavior.He played the lead role in developing the "Camp David profiles" and initiated the U.S. government program in understanding the psychology of terrorism.In recognition of his leadership at the Center, Dr. Post was awarded the Intelligence Medal of Merit in 1979.
He served as expert witness in numerous trials and testified on terrorist psychology before the Congress and the U.N.He is a widely published author, whose most recent books include Leaders and their Followers in a Dangerous World and The Mind of the Terrorist: The Psychology of Terrorism from the IRA to al-Qaeda.Dr. Post is a frequent commentator on national and international media on such topics as leadership, leader illness, treason, the psychology of terrorism, suicide terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, Hugo Chavez, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Kim Jong Il.