North Korean leader Kim Jong Un offers many faces & many threats. When he first appeared in the public spotlight in 2010, the North Koreans began looking for clues as to whether he would be a reformist or simply the newest face of a despotic regime. Over a year after taking control, following the death of his father, he appears to be careering toward the latter — at least on the surface.

Having threatened to fire his missiles toward the United States, Kim has put the Korean Peninsula and much of the western world on a war footing. His behaviour follows that of his predecessors, and he now finds himself backed into a corner and it’s not clear that he has thought through how to get out of it. This makes this current scenario particularly challenging.

By declaring war on South Korea, he does seem to be emulating his grandfather, the founder of North Korea, who took the region to a war that killed as many as 5 million people in the 1950s.

He seems to want the approval of the North Korean military and he’s clearly trying to convince them that he is ready to govern. There may have been some doubts because of his youth and the fact that he never served in the military, so he’s probably trying to show them that he’s tough.

But Kim is playing a dangerous game; the best analytical quote I have read so far compares him to “a puppy that is not trained or groomed and thus not afraid of anything”.

Tensions have been steadily growing since mid February, when North Korea alarmed the international community with an underground nuclear test. Recent weeks have seen the atmosphere grow increasingly hostile with an almost daily barrage of threats against South Korea, Japan and the United States, yet Kim has been nowhere to be seen!! His last public appearance was a parliamentary session on 1st April!

North Korea seems to be capable and willing to provoke at any time depending on its hostile rhetoric and the political and military situation. But is it all bluff and bluster? Let’s hope so!