YOUR VIEWS

IN Thursday's Behind the Headlines Ray Fleming refers to North Korea as one country where globalization has made little progress. Another not so far away on the other side of China is Burma (Myanmar) which has shut itself off from the world since its independence from Britain in 1948.

The hero of Burma was Aung San a communist who joined the Japanese in 1941 in defeating the British. He changed sides in 1945 after Japan itself was defeated and accepted the position of PM in an interim puppet government. Shortly before independence he was assassinated by some of his political enemies with the help of British Officers. The local assassins were executed, the British jailed. If the name Aung San is familiar it is due to the second connection with North Korea – dynasty building. Aung San Suu Kyi is his only daughter. She returned to Burma in 1988 became leader of the main opposition party and won a general election 2 years later. She has been under house arrest almost permanently since. Until recently all foreign newspapers were banned and BBC radio transmissions jammed. Tourist visas were only good for 6 hours and in the case of Suu Kyi's terminally ill husband Dr. Michael Aris refused completely. The harshness of these regimes to their own citizens is even more draconian.

I don't know why but I still find it curious that Atheistic Communists have so much in common with God Fearing Monarchists. North Korean Kim il-sung soon became Great Leader but after his death ascended higher to become Eternal.

His son Kim Jong-il now is the Supreme Leader and it appears his grandson Kim Jung-un is being groomed to “pick up the mantle”. I await the ascendancy of great grandson Kim un-sung(?) as the next local Prince of Wales when his grandfather expires and is renamed Everlasting Leader.

Mike Lillico
Playa de Palma