- WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- North
Korean leader Kim Jong-il's biggest ambition is to rule over a unified,
Communist Korea, the North's highest-ranking defector said in an interview
published on Tuesday.
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- Hwang Jang-yop, speaking through an interpreter, also
said that Kim Jong-il was "brilliant" as a dictator but a failure
as a leader and has turned his country into a prison.
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- A former mentor to Kim Jong-il, Hwang told The Washington
Times that Kim's "priority in life is to become the supreme ruler
of the unified Chosun, or as you call it, Korea."
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- Hwang, 81, was a mentor to Kim and was a confidant of
Kim Il Sung, the North's late leader and father of the current leader.
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- "Before Kim Jong-il came to power, there was his
father, Kim Il Sung. No one starved to death under Kim Il Sung. However
after Kim Jong-il came to power, millions of people starved to death. The
economy has been destroyed and the whole government and the country became
one big prison," Hwang said.
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- "As a leader of his people, this man has been a
failure. However, as a dictator, in maintaining his dictatorial regime,
this man has been brilliant," Hwang told The Washington Times.
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- Hwang said in the interview that he does not believe
Kim Jong-il would initiate a war against South Korea unless he was certain
that he would prevail. He also said that the North Korean leadership's
failures led it to seek nuclear weapons to maintain its grip on power and
that Kim would be willing to use nuclear weapons in a conflict with the
South.
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- "I would think that by having these warheads, it
would be possible to maintain the status quo of the dictatorial regime
of North Korea." Hwang said " And also possibly use them against
South Korea, to occupy South Korea by force."
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- Concluding a weeklong visit to the United States on Tuesday,
Hwang also told the newspaper that he believes the U.S. war against terrorism
is essentially a fight for human rights and should be extended to North
Korea.
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- "I believe we need to have a common cause where
we are fighting against the dictatorship for the purpose of establishing
human rights and restoring human rights for people, and that is the principle
of democracy that I believe that should be applied when it comes to North
Korea," Hwang said.
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- http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=3747635
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