Execution shows it's no more Mr Nice Guy for North Korea's Kim Jong-un
Execution of uncle shows ruthlessness of young North Korean leader trying to cement his power
Kim Jong-un, who marks his second year in power in Pyongyang this week, has shown himself to be more politically gifted than his father, as well as more risk tolerant and more reformist. But for each of these attributes there is a significant caveat: the recent execution of his uncle suggests both ruthlessness and paranoia.
The son "is more charismatic, more photogenic, a natural politician. He looks like a likeable guy", says Dan Pinkston, deputy project director for Northeast Asia at the International Crisis Group in Seoul. "He will stand up and take phones and talk to people. He looks natural in playing a role that his father did not."
During his first major public appearance, the son was in a sombre mood at his father's stage-managed funeral. Since then the plump 30-year-old has been filmed often: being fawned on by female soldiers, giving guidance to a new airport's designers, posing for photos with star-struck citizens. He has also delivered public speeches. His father made just one public utterance, at a parade, squeaking: "Long live the glorious North Korean People's Army!"
The son's look - his well-padded physique, big grin and side-wall haircut - seems designed to harken back to a time before North Korea's economic headaches and widespread malnutrition, to the era of his grandfather, state-founder Kim Il-sung.
But the Mr Nice Guy image was savaged last week following the unprecedented public purge and swift execution of his uncle by marriage, Jang Song-thaek, formerly the No 2 man in the regime.
In Seoul, even experienced North Korean watchers, accustomed to the tactics of the dictatorship, were shocked.
