Fareed Zakaria imagines interview with North Korea's Kim Jong-un and the result was not far from truth

Love him or hate him, you can’t ignore him – This dictum seems to fit perfectly for North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un, who has become a permanent fixture in headlines across the world. Kim is a person who is not easy to get hold of (read: impossible) and therefore, the enigma around him not just pulls but makes journalists ‘imagine’ things. Fareed Zakaria, who hosts CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS, in a piece asserts that the North Korean leader is one of those personalities whom he would want to interview. After North launched a missile on Japan on Friday, the journalist wrote a piece where he imagines an interview with the North Korean leader and jots down questions he would like to ask the “smart” leader. In two separate opinion pieces (see here and here) on North Korea’s leader published in The Washington Post, Zakaria tries to decipher (at times through Kim’s own words) how the regime has survived for so long. [caption id=“attachment_3279222” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Kim Jong-un. AFP[/caption] While the world calls him a madman (and US president Donald Trump calls him a madman with nuclear weapons), Zakaria says he might be “strategic, smart and utterly rational.” As the countries condemn and put sanctions on North Korea over its nuclear missile tests, Kim says in the imagined interview with Zakaria that his nation faces a fundamental challenge of survival because the regime is more threatened than ever. With the disintegration of the Soviet Union and China gradually moving towards the West countries, Kim is having an even more difficult time than his father and grandfather. Kim’s father and grandfather ruled with the help of the Soviet Union and the mighty China. As Zakaria says in another opinion piece published by The Washington Post, China  “went from being a fiery ideological soul mate to a pragmatic trading state that has eagerly integrated into world markets.” China is starting to view North Korea as a nuisance. Beijing on Friday condemned Pyongyang’s launch of a ballistic missile over Japan and appealed for restraints. “The Chinese side opposes the DPRK’s violation of the resolution of the (UN) Security Council, and its use of ballistic missile technology for launch activities,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said, as Guardian reported. The US has also called on China and Russia to take direct action to reign in North Korea. China also backed United Nations sanctions against Pyongyang as punishment for the regime’s nuclear weapons program, New York Post reported. “China is ruthlessly pragmatic. It supports its own selfish interests and it longer considers North Korea an ally,” Kim told Zakaria. Expanding on Beijing’s concerns, he said that China does not want millions of refugees or a unified Korea on its border. Chinese president Xi Jinping has close relations with South Korea but not with me, he added. North Korea therefore, faces an existential crisis. It has survived with its ideology and system intact until now because they have built a protection in the form of nuclear weapons, Kim told Zakaria. According to a Foreign Policy article, the Kim regime has had to survive massive famine that afflicted the public, the loss of every international ally. And the world’s most powerful country has made clear that North Korea is destined for the ash heap of history. Trump said the latest UN sanctions on Pyongyang are only a very small step. “We think it’s just another very small step, not a big deal…But those sanctions are nothing compared to what ultimately will have to happen,” he was quoted as saying by Huffington Post. The Sun also reported that military advisors claim the US is making plans to occupy North Korea quietly. Kim said that they heard that senior officials in China and the United States were discussing whether to encourage a coup in North Korea and the only person who could have done it, was his uncle, who has now been liquidated, he said. In the face of such hostility, Zakaria claims that the best insurance is having a nuclear capacity. “Perhaps the right way to look at North Korea is as a smart, rational, calculating government that is functioning shrewdly given its priority of regime survival,” Zakaria adds. Expressing concern over what happened to Moammar Gaddafi in Libya after he agreed to give up his nuclear weapons program, Kim told Zakaria that they will readily come to the negotiating table but will never give up their arsenal. “We are a nuclear power. This is not negotiable,” he added. While the Americans fear North Korea has the capacity and intention to launch missiles, Kim said that the whole point is to ensure that he and his regime survives. Kim demands recognition by Washington and guarantees of non-aggression from China, Japan and the US. Kim even sent a warning to the US saying, he wants recognition, a dialogue and a peaceful environment so he can devote himself to the economic prosperity of North Korea, Express reported.