North Korea

Signs of a decaying North Korean regime are a reminder of allied failures, says Christian Whiton. Time to weaken it from within.

In this country they assume you’re an enemy right off the bat,” the elderly Polish-American tourist said as our ancient Soviet airplane descended into the North Korean capital of Pyongyang on the regular Air Koryo flight from the northern Chinese city of Shenyang.

In 1989, the year the Berlin Wall fell, Francis Fukuyama asked whether the world had reached ‘the end of history’.

With North Korea’s latest acts of defiance again grabbing the world’s attention – an underground nuclear test last week and several missile firings – all eyes have turned to China to rein in its secretive neighbour.

Living in Kemalist Turkey is instructive in how a country can nourish a Great Leader cult and still veer short of dictatorship.