The Kims' Three Bodies: Communism and Dynastic Succession in North Korea.

The article describes the dynastic succession in North Korea and U.S. perceptions of the reign of Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong-il and Kim Jong-un. It is suggested that since the early 1990s, every crisis involving North Korea has drawn comments that it is on the verge of collapse or a power struggle might emerge, and passing superficial judgment on Kim Jong-il and Kim Jong-un as young and unworthy successors to their fathers. Instead of a coup or a revolution as Westerners predicted, North Koreans reportedly wept on the death of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il. The author suggests that American policy makers have proved over seven decades that they do not understand North Korea as a modern monarchy realized in a highly nationalistic, postcolonial state.