June 2012;
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Thursday that North Korea’s new leader, Kim Jung Un, “has a choice to make” — become a “transformative leader” or continue the Communist nation’s existing policies, which she predicted would lead to its demise. “He can continue the model of the past and eventually North Korea will change, because at some point people cannot live under such oppressive conditions — starving to death, being put into gulags and having their basic human rights denied,” she said.
“We are hoping that he will chart a different course for his people.”
The 29-year-old Kim Jong Un became North Korea’s most powerful figure about six months ago, following the death of his father Kim Jong Il. He has only made two public speeches since rising to power — the first coming at a ceremony marking the 100th anniversary of the birth of North Korea’s founder and his grandfather Kim Il Sung, and more recently in June in a speech to about 20,000 children.
Referring to Kim Jong Un, Clinton expressed “hope that the new leadership in Pyongyang will live up to its agreements, will not engage in threats and provocations (and) will put the North Korean people first.”
“Rather than spending money on implements of war, feed your people, provide education and health care, and lift your people out of poverty and isolation,” she advised North Korea’s new leader.