North Korean Intrigue

North Korea is a secretive and obscure state. The only information about North Korea released to the outside world comes from state-run media and the Western media is forced to report on on what the government is sharing. Starvation and privation are the norm for many of North Korea's citizens. Nonetheless, the country maintains a powerful military and enjoys proving their prowess by firing missiles and attacking ships of their archenemy South Korea. North Korea's secrecy was recently in the news when it was revealed by state-run media that indeed, the woman who has been seen with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in many photographs is indeed his wife, Ri Sol-ju. Kim was a global unknown and the outside world did not even know what he looked like until 2010, when he began being groomed by his father, Kim Jong-il, as successor. It wasn't long before Kim Jong-il died (pictured in photo) and in December 2011, Kim Jong-un became leader of one of the world's last remaining communist countries. This latest marriage news is merely another surprise in the long chain of North Korean mysteries. North Korea is on all of the United States' lists of unfriendly countries - it's part of the Axis of Evil, Outposts of Tyranny, Rogue States, and State Sponsors of Terrorism. It reminds me so very much of the Soviet Union during the Cold War.