WHAT a small, pitiful man Donald Trump is.

The US President thinks hes a real tough guy, presumably because he spent so many
years pretending to fire people on reality TV. But that is, and always has been, a
lie. Trumps supporters mistake his petty, spiteful aggression for strength, when
it is in fact the exact opposite.
His endless spats and Twitter tantrums reveal a man who is thin-skinned, self-
obsessed and pathetically insecure.
Trump, who has more power and responsibility than anyone else on the planet, wastes
his days in the White House obsessing over pointless feuds and satisfying his
compulsive need to whine about every perceived grievance.
Why? Because the only thing Trump truly cares about is making himself look good. No
pA HIGH-RANKING former member of the North Korean government says the harsh
economic sanctions imposed on the country could be enough to wipe it out within 12
months.
Ri Jong-ho, a former economic official appointed by Kim Jong-uns father and
predecessor Kim Jong-il, says the United Nations trade restrictions are so strong
that it could cripple the isolated nation.
I dont know North Korea will survive a year with these sanctions, he said.
Many people will die.
Mr Ri said the sanctions put in place this year were on a totally different level
due to China closing all North Korean businesses in the country, banning exports of
petroleum products and cutting off textile imports.
It has blocked the market going in and out. Tens of hundreds of companies have
been suspended, he said.
The impact is significant. Thats why they felt threatened and launched missiles.
Mr Ri said everything had stopped in terms of economic activity in North Korea.
There is no electricity, yet they are spending their money on military arms, he
said.
All of the factories that require steel have stopped, so it is like a domino.
There is hardly power generation so how can the factories run?
The people are desperate for power generation. They want to run farms.
When you look at the aerial view of the Korean peninsula, it is pitch black in
North Korea.
Speaking in New York this week at the Asia Society, which is headed by former prime
minister Kevin Rudd, Mr Ri gave a rare insight into the Kim regime and the fears
and insecurities that makes it so volatile.
Mr Ri a former official with Office 39, a secretive trading organisation under
direct control of the Kim family defected from the hermit kingdom in 2014.
He fled to South Korea, then the US, as Kim Jong-un was executing hundreds of high-
level officials, many of whom had been loyal to Kim Jong-il, like himself.
It was a big shock to us and some people collapsed watching that, Mr Ri said.
They shot them in so many pieces there was not enough of a body left for burial.
He said he had spent 30 years at centre stage in North Korea and watched the
economic decline that has put its people on the brink of starvation.
Ri Jong-ho is a former senior North Korean economic official. Picture:
Screengrab/The Washington Post
Ri Jong-ho is a former senior North Korean economic official. Picture:
Screengrab/The Washington PostSource:Supplied
WHY NORTH KOREA IS SO PARANOID
Mr Ri said Kim Jong-uns provocative nuclear weapons and ballistic missile tests
were all about protecting his regime and stopping a South Korean invasion.
The North Koreans always think the South Koreans are their biggest enemy and they
are always feeling threatened, he said.
They are always thinking there is a threat that they can be invaded and they are
keeping their eyes on this situation.
In order for them to have greater power, they dont have the economic power so
they built up their naval force.
Similarly, opening up the economy presents a grave risk to Mr Kims power.
If they open up their market, the worry is that they would destroy their
dictatorship regime, Mr Ri said.
Ri Jong-ho says North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is insecure. Picture: AFP/KCNA
via KNS
Ri Jong-ho says North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is insecure. Picture: AFP/KCNA
via KNSSource:AFP
WILL KIM USE HIS WEAPONS?
Mr Ri does not believe that Mr Kim is serious about using his weapons against the
US; instead they are being developed more as a political tool.
North Korea has always said, We dont want war but we are not afraid to engage in
a war; we shoot missiles to keep our freedom.
Therefore, the people are brainwashed to a great degree.
Kim Jong-un says the reason for deploying nuclear weapons is so that we can
survive. We need them for defence, for offence, for politics.
The talk of war has been present for decades, it nothing new. North Korea has said
hundreds of thousands of times that they were going to blow up the US.
But North Korea is not competitive against the US It developed nuclear power not
to confront the US but to make their power greater than South Koreas. Not to
attack the US; its too big.
North Korea wants to keep the truth very secretive so other countries would not
know what they really think.
US President Donald Trump has responded to North Koreas increasing weapons
development by threatening to rain fire and fury down on the nation.
And while both Mr Trump and Mr Kim have been belligerent, Mr Ri believes their
comments cannot be compared.
This is not peer to peer belligerence. This is like a child and adult dispute, he
said.
Kim Jong-un wants some help from the US, in order for him to solidify his regime.
There greatest fear is that the royalty regime would collapse if they were to
bring in Russia or China militarily to fight against the US.
They feel insecure.
The North Korean government test-launches of an intermediate range Hwasong-12 in
North Korea. Picture: Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP
The North Korean government test-launches of an intermediate range Hwasong-12 in
North Korea. Picture: Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via APSource:AP
WHY NORTH KOREAN ECONOMY COLLAPSED
North Koreas economic problems began well before the UN sanctions and they are
problems largely of Mr Kims own making.
Mr Ri remembers a time when the North Korea was thriving thanks to vibrant steel
and cement factories.
In the 1970s, the [North Korean] economy was vibrant and the factories were
running and electricity was available everywhere, he said.
Mr Ri said Kim Jong-il, who was leader from 1997 to 2011, did not have a good sense
about the economy.
Its relationship with its main trading partner and ally China began when the Kim
family watched its neighbour embrace capitalism.
North Korea did not want to mix with this capitalistic nation, Mr Ri said.
Kim Jong-il decided North Korea should open up to some degree even a socialistic
nation has to generate profit and he set up some measures, but there is a sort of
royalty regime in North Korea that doesnt work so well with the market system.
Because of this incompatibility, the economy is not doing well still.
When Kim Jong-il died, the economy collapsed as well.
Meanwhile, South Korea developed to the extent that its was among the top 20
nations by gross domestic product.
Many people have started to starve, Mr Ri said.
Relations soured further in 2014 when Chinese President Xi Jinping visited South
Korea before North Korea.
Kim Jong-un took it as a humiliation, a personal insult. He called Xi a son of a
bitch, called Chinese people as those sons of bitches Chinese.
China is similarly unimpressed with its ally because its sees it as building its
military when it should be feeding its citizens.
Now China has blocked trade, which has never happened before, so this is the very
worst point of their relationship, Mr Ri said.
Mr Kim resolved to turn its trade away from China and towards Russia and Southeast
Asia, but he soon found that trading in Russia was not so convenient.
If North Korea opened itself up like China did, it would not be in crisis.
It shows how important one leader is and shows that the Kim Jong-un leadership is
a failed leadership.
Ri Jong-ho says Kim Jong-uns is a failed leadership. Picture: AFP/KCNA via KNS
Ri Jong-ho says Kim Jong-uns is a failed leadership. Picture: AFP/KCNA via
KNSSource:AFP
WHAT NORTH KOREA REALLY WANTS
While it uses its state-controlled media to spew threats at the US and other
enemies, Mr Ri says Mr Kim actually lacks confidence and what he craves most is
respect.
Its provocative tests of missiles and nuclear weapons are all part of this
strategy.
They desperately want relations with the US, Mr Ri said.
The leader wants to keep the leadership for a long time. In order for him to stay
in the leadership for that long, he believes he needs to have a friendly
relationship with the US.
They want to be part of the international community.
Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop expressed a similar view when in New York
for the United Nations General Assembly last month.
Obviously, [North Korea] wants to be in the best possible negotiating position and
that why were seeing such overt display of capability when it comes to ballistic
missiles and nuclear weapons, she said.

TRENDING IN FINANCE
131Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a briefing after the talks with Cyprus'
President Nicos Anastasiades in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Oct. 24,
2017. Nicos Anastasiades is in Russia on a working visit. (Sergei Chirikov/Pool
Photo via AP)
Putin: What if were wrong about Russias President

olicy is more important than boosting his ego. No lie is too outrageous if its in
service to his self-esteem.
Consider the depressingly stupid week-long spat over Trumps condolence call to a
fallen soldiers widow.
A Democratic Congresswoman, who was present for the call, said Trump seemed to
forget Sergeant La David Johnsons name and told Sgt Johnsons wife Myeshia he
knew what he was getting into when he signed up.
Trump accused her of totally fabricating his words. I did not say what she
said, he insisted, over and over again.
Well, Ms Johnson herself later confirmed the Congresswomans account. So unless
youre prepared to impugn the motives of a grieving widow, it is clear that Trump
was lying.
The phone call itself is not the problem here. We all occasionally stumble over our
words or blurt out the wrong thing, and thats without the immense pressure of
speaking to a tearful spouse. Trumps clumsiness during the call is entirely
forgivable.
No, the problem is that the President of the United States would rather shamelessly
lie about his conversation with a war widow than offer anything resembling an
apology.
This is what he should have said: Im sorry Ms Johnson was offended. That was
never my intent. I honour her husbands sacrifice and wish her the best as she
grieves for him. The nation grieves with her.
That would have ended the controversy, but of course, Trump was never going to say
it. Even now he continues to imply that Ms Johnson is the one lying, despite a car
full of witnesses contradicting him, because he is pathologically incapable of
admitting to a mistake.
This isnt the kind of arrogance you usually see in politics. If you want an
example of an arrogant president, look at Barack Obama, who genuinely believed he
could change the world by making a few pretty speeches.
Trump is different. His ego is gigantic, yes, but its also pathetically fragile.
That is why he has such an overwhelming impulse to get back at anyone who
criticises him.