The Dear Leader

North Korean authorities, it is reported, had closed off entry to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea [DPRK] aka North Korea. Why? An important announcement was at hand yesterday. Yet no announcement came. Seoul, Tokyo, and Washington are worried for they fear the worst. Translation either complete incapacitation of Kim Jong il or the reading of his political will. The Dear Leader's absence from event marking milestones in the DPRK's history has injected adrenalin into the veins of the rumour industry. The plain truth is that no one but no one outside Mr. Kim's family and inner circle know what's what. Whatever the truth, one thing is sure: the country has not collapsed; panic is not seen on the street; there is no mass exodus across the Yalu into China or as family talking heads like to keep saying across the heavily guarded and mined 38 parallel in South Korea. Scenarios of gloom and doom and much wishful thinking since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the sudden withdrawal of Moscow's gold to North Korea. North Korean watchers with few exception are rubbing hands with glee about the end of Mr. Kim and his kind. They are more willing to believe in the tooth fairy than reality. And let's put it more boldly, they blowing smoke from where you can jolly well guess. Pyongyang will say what it has to say when it wants to say it. In the meanwhile, newspaper space will fill up with this or that or the other rumour.