A riddle wrapped in an enigma: North Korea is an isolated, poor, and cultish society. Its recent attempts to reform have been stymied--not least by its admission that it has a nuclear-weapons program.(Illustration)

From: New York Times Upfront | Date: December 13, 2002| Author: | Copyright information

PYONGYANG, North Korea--When our plane landed here in North Korea's capital, there were no other jets in sight. A huge portrait of the nation's founder, Kim Il Sung, stared out from atop the airport's musty terminal. A tour bus with government-appointed guides met us at the foot of the plane. The ride down a broad, empty road toward the city's center was eerily quiet.

We passed monument after monument to Kim Il Sung and his son, Kim Jong Il, the short, pudgy leader with a bouffant hairdo who took the reins of power after his father's death in 1994. The father-and-son dynasty ...

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