As you can imagine I have been busting it out this week.
There has been so much to do at the office and at home to get ready for the holiday this weekend.
But, I just can't let the busiest week of the year pass without posting the best news of the year or perhaps of the last few decades.
Kim Jong Il will finally face his final judgement.
I don't think that I've ever mentioned it here before that I love Korea.
Why you ask? I don't know it's complicated.
But like my being a Francophile, an Anglophile, a Switzerlandphile and an Australiaphile,
I am a Koreaphile too.
And, if you watched as much Korean drama (K-dram) as I have
you'd be a Koreaphile too.
But back on topic.
Kim Jong Il was evil. Yes, there I've said it.
He was so bad that he made Middle Eastern tyrants and African despots look like nice guys.
Like Stalin with his failed agricultural policies in the 1930s which caused the starvation of millions,
Kim Jong Il's policies caused the starvation his own people.
You can read about it in this article from The Atlantic
How Kim Jong Il Starved North Korea
Oh, and if that isn't bad enough,
Under Kim Jong Il, dissenters and others were forced into prison/concentration camps.
In fact entire families, with small children, were sentenced to hard labor and starvation.
There is ample evidence about the conditions in these camps on the internet including in this article from the Huffington Post
North Korea: Behind The Veil
"In this country, one can die from uttering one wrong word; people starve to death; one cannot go anywhere without a public pass. In this country, there are modern-day Auschwitz concentration camps; no religion exists; the regime supports production of illegal drugs, counterfeit bills and cigarettes. In this country, the whole population is classified into twelve hierarchical groups; millions starve to death while the dictator spends close to a billion dollars for his father's memorial; there is neither radio nor internet. In this country, one has to serve at least ten years in the military; there is the biggest income gap in the world; and the monthly wage is less than a dollar for most people. This country is North Korea."
I don't know what is going to happen in North Korea now, but I pray that Kim Jong Il's death will bring a new openness and an amelioration in the harsh conditions that the people of that country have been living under at the whim of their tyrannical totalitarian leaders.
Yes indeed, Christmas has come early for some 24 million people.