It is quite a feat to make South Koreans feel nostalgic about Kim Jong-il – but his son appears to have managed it.
A common charge against the late North Korean leader was that he used provocations as bait to secure negotiations and aid from the US and South Korea. Within weeks of Pyongyang’s first nuclear test in 2006 the regime was in talks to suspend the programme in return for a resumption of US fuel shipments.
Such deals have been condemned as appeasement by critics in Washington and Seoul. But if the Dear Leader’s approach sparked resentment, that has changed to alarm at Kim Jong-eun’s apparent determination to build a nuclear deterrent.