72 years (and 13 hours) ago...

[Bengalzona]

(08-06-2017, 03:30 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: In truth, the more I have been learning about Imperial Japan the more I get concerned about NK. The hypernationalist attitudes are very similar.

There is a major difference.

The Japanese worshiped their emperor, but he did not develop that cult worship into autocratic power. The war was basically conceived of and ran by Hirohito and a base group of military leaders. There was, at times, a bipolar power struggle between the Emperor and the generals (particularly in the final weeks of the war).

Kim Jung Il sits atop a web of generals who derive power only through his autocratic rule and cult of personalty (i.e. he is the glue that holds them together rather than being an obstacle they sometimes have to work around).