Words cannot possibly describe the period. Even the favored military were not being fed well. They began to steal from civilians. And no one could stop them. The citizens of North Korea are akin to a child in the womb in their vulnerability to evil in the modern Korea.

The long-expected "reunification" that surely had to come before August 15 of 1995 (50 year anniversary of liberation from Japan) didn't come. Horror came in its place. All morale was gone. Had not friendly nations, and those not so friendly, shown compassion, North Korea would have become a historical tragedy. Gone forever.

The present leadership endured the decade of tragedy, but not without constant tension and fear. Bodyguards were in great demand. Over 3,000 were in use in Pyongyang's government way back in 1976. Then Ceaucescu was assassinated. Within 5 years there were upwards to 70,000 bodyguards available for service.

Political repression increased in this time also. At one time, perhaps even today, 25-30 concentration camps dotted the landscape of North Korea. One can be assigned there merely for saying something disrespectful about the government, or because a member of the family committed an offense.

By the year 2000, the NK leaders decided they needed some European friends and so, for public consumption, addressed human rights issues. But when acceptance was gained, some say the situation got even worse.

In that same year, the Presidents of North and South Korea got together. Seoul promised to invest in the North. In return Pyongyang would allow families to reunite. Clinton would relax sanctions. Strange isn't it? Trade and aid open up, and the North's only response is to do something that should have been done all along.

In another similar negotiation of the period, North Korea demands from the US one billion dollars a year for NK's gesture of suspending its missile efforts. Demands are made of Tokyo, in fact ten times as much, since Japan still owed them reparations from the War years.

North Korea keeps demanding, the nations keep bowing, as do all the subjects of his domain. How long?