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00:00:19,653 --> 00:00:24,525
POST: When he was a child
he was given a uniform and
called 'Comrade General'.

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00:00:30,431 --> 00:00:33,534
At 28, his father died,

3
00:00:33,567 --> 00:00:37,338
and he became the youngest
head of state in the world.

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00:00:41,875 --> 00:00:44,878
At 30 he had
his uncle killed.

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00:00:44,912 --> 00:00:47,981
TODD (over TV): The official
North Korean news agency
report on this called his

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00:00:48,015 --> 00:00:52,220
uncle quote, 'despicable human
scum' and 'worse than a dog'.

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00:00:55,189 --> 00:00:57,591
POST: And he befriended
Dennis Rodman.

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00:00:59,393 --> 00:01:02,530
RODMAN: I've seen a lot of
weird things in my life, I've
seen a lot of stuff but that

9
00:01:02,563 --> 00:01:04,665
right there blew me away.

10
00:01:04,698 --> 00:01:07,868
I just couldn't believe
how much power this,
this young kid got.

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00:01:07,901 --> 00:01:11,539
All I want to say is
this to my, my friend.

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00:01:15,776 --> 00:01:19,079
* Happy birthday to you,

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00:01:19,747 --> 00:01:23,584
* Happy birthday to you,

14
00:01:24,352 --> 00:01:28,156
* Happy birthday to you. *

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00:01:30,391 --> 00:01:33,527
POST: At 34 his
half-brother was murdered.

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00:01:35,529 --> 00:01:39,333
REPORTER (over TV): Kim
Jong-Nam died under mysterious
circumstances while waiting

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00:01:39,367 --> 00:01:42,203
for a flight at Kuala Lumpur
International Airport.

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00:01:43,371 --> 00:01:46,674
POST: Then he developed
nuclear weapons
that could hit America.

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00:01:53,547 --> 00:01:57,618
TRUMP: Rocket man is on a
suicide mission for himself.

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00:02:05,893 --> 00:02:10,898
NARRATOR: Now the world wants
to know what he's thinking,
and what he might do next.

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00:02:14,168 --> 00:02:19,407
But to get inside his mind,
you have to meet his family.

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00:02:23,010 --> 00:02:28,782
POST: It's simply impossible
to understand Kim Jong-Un and
predict his actions without

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00:02:29,750 --> 00:02:35,356
putting that in the context
of his father and grandfather.

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00:02:39,593 --> 00:02:42,530
NARRATOR: Only three men,

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00:02:42,863 --> 00:02:44,932
one family,

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00:02:45,733 --> 00:02:49,703
have ruled this
country and taken on the world.

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00:02:51,772 --> 00:02:56,176
TRUMP: North Korea should have
been handled 25 years ago,
20 years, ago, 15 years ago,

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00:02:56,210 --> 00:02:59,046
10 years ago and 5 years ago.

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00:02:59,079 --> 00:03:01,749
But I'll fix the mess.

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00:03:03,417 --> 00:03:08,356
NARRATOR: Now, as it all
comes to a head, this is
the story of the Kim's,

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00:03:08,922 --> 00:03:11,925
a family of dictators.

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00:03:12,560 --> 00:03:17,197
PERRY: They've been smart,
and they've been ruthless, and
they've been single minded on

33
00:03:17,231 --> 00:03:22,169
their overarching
goal, which is to
preserve the Kim dynasty:

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00:03:22,570 --> 00:03:25,273
to keep the regime in power.

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00:03:44,758 --> 00:03:51,198
(cheering).

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00:04:02,610 --> 00:04:07,581
* MARTIN: I
have but one heart *

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00:04:09,717 --> 00:04:14,655
* This heart I bring you

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00:04:15,989 --> 00:04:20,528
* I have but one heart

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00:04:22,262 --> 00:04:26,867
* To share with you *

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00:04:29,102 --> 00:04:33,106
POST: Leadership has to do
with a sense of destiny.

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00:04:33,774 --> 00:04:37,945
Why do the followers
choose this leader
rather than that leader?

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00:04:40,514 --> 00:04:45,553
It's because that leader
has been able to tune into,

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00:04:46,086 --> 00:04:50,824
to respond to the need for
rescuing by the followers.

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00:04:53,060 --> 00:04:59,967
And to shape himself to fit
that mode, not consciously,
but there is that chemistry

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00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:04,271
between leader and follower
that can be so powerful.

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00:05:07,441 --> 00:05:12,580
* MARTIN: And
nobody else before you *

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00:05:13,914 --> 00:05:17,785
* Ever has heard me say. *

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00:05:17,818 --> 00:05:23,857
POST: What is necessary
is to ensure the total
loyalty of the people and

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00:05:25,659 --> 00:05:31,899
anyone connected
with dissidents,
opposition, rebellion,

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00:05:32,566 --> 00:05:37,771
must be killed to
ensure the purity of the people.

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00:05:54,722 --> 00:05:59,026
NARRATOR: Jerrold Post
is a psychiatrist whose
job it was to get inside

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00:05:59,059 --> 00:06:03,063
the minds of the world's
most dangerous dictators.

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00:06:04,665 --> 00:06:10,671
POST: For 21 years
I was leading a new kind
of intelligence really.

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00:06:12,239 --> 00:06:17,711
Assessing world leaders for
the President, Secretary of
State, Secretary of Defense.

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00:06:19,780 --> 00:06:26,219
Kim Il-Sung was not just a
charismatic leader, he was a
leader of a wounded people,

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00:06:28,722 --> 00:06:32,860
wishing to be led
in a heroic fashion.

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00:06:36,930 --> 00:06:41,001
BREEN: Kim Il-Sung
had credentials as
a guerrilla fighter,

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00:06:41,034 --> 00:06:44,371
and he was a sort of rough
and ready fellow; you
know, he'd been in prison,

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00:06:44,404 --> 00:06:48,609
he'd been living a scruffy
life as a guerrilla for years.

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00:06:49,777 --> 00:06:54,114
He suffered a lot for
the sake of his country.

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00:07:04,391 --> 00:07:09,429
NARRATOR: To understand
the strange psychology
of North Korea,

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00:07:09,697 --> 00:07:15,669
you have to go back to where
it all began, in the frozen
forests of eastern Asia.

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00:07:18,338 --> 00:07:23,511
Here a young Kim Il-Sung
fought running battles with
the Japanese army who'd

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00:07:23,544 --> 00:07:26,614
brutally occupied Korea.

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00:07:29,650 --> 00:07:35,623
The Koreans had been utterly
humiliated and dehumanized
under Japanese rule.

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00:07:35,656 --> 00:07:41,829
Then in 1945, everything
changed, when America dropped
nuclear bombs on Japan.

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00:07:56,544 --> 00:08:00,781
And so, the second
world war ended, and the
Japanese empire collapsed.

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00:08:01,615 --> 00:08:08,556
The Soviet Union and America
divided Korea between them
and cut the country in half.

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00:08:14,194 --> 00:08:17,898
RUSK: We looked at the map
and thought that it would
be a good idea if Seoul,

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00:08:17,931 --> 00:08:23,036
the capital of Korea, were
in our zone of occupation
and there was no clearly

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00:08:23,070 --> 00:08:25,205
distinguishing
geographic feature,

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00:08:28,576 --> 00:08:33,013
but there was the 38th
parallel and so we came
back and suggested that,

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00:08:34,582 --> 00:08:38,518
and the Russians accepted
the 38th parallel, well,
with alacrity.

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00:08:42,522 --> 00:08:46,694
NARRATOR: It was Stalin who
chose the young guerrilla
fighter, Kim Il-Sung,

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to lead the communist north.

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00:08:51,231 --> 00:08:54,635
POST: When Kim Il-Sung
came into power,

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00:08:54,668 --> 00:08:58,238
in effect he was the
puppet of the Soviet Union.

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00:09:02,009 --> 00:09:06,714
NARRATOR: At first the Korean
people weren't sure if he
was fit to be their leader.

79
00:09:32,339 --> 00:09:34,875
(speaking in Korean).

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00:09:34,908 --> 00:09:38,245
(cheering).

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00:09:38,746 --> 00:09:44,918
POST: The uh Japanese invasion
had stripped the Korean people
of their dignity and they were

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00:09:45,753 --> 00:09:50,557
hungering for someone who
could lead them out of this.

83
00:09:50,590 --> 00:09:55,663
And Kim Il-Sung, with
his eloquent speech,

84
00:09:56,163 --> 00:09:59,532
his ideas for independence,

85
00:09:59,566 --> 00:10:02,670
gave the people enthusiasm.

86
00:10:20,187 --> 00:10:26,259
For Kim he was supposed
to be the ruler of the
entire Korean peninsula,

87
00:10:29,029 --> 00:10:34,401
and this arbitrary
38th parallel was
like a major wound,

88
00:10:36,536 --> 00:10:40,373
it was almost like a part of
his own body had been cut off.

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00:10:43,410 --> 00:10:47,781
NARRATOR: He saw the
Americans like an evil empire,
intruding on Korean land.

90
00:10:53,653 --> 00:10:57,758
Kim's first big move as
leader was audacious.

91
00:10:58,892 --> 00:11:03,764
With Stalin's help
he amassed huge numbers
of tanks and artillery,

92
00:11:06,233 --> 00:11:10,503
and then, in 1950,
he invaded South Korea.

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00:11:23,683 --> 00:11:26,820
NARRATOR: Kim always dreamt
of ruling all of Korea,

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00:11:26,854 --> 00:11:30,557
and now he was trying
to achieve that ambition.

95
00:11:52,012 --> 00:11:55,282
BUSSEY: The North Koreans
were extremely well trained.

96
00:11:55,315 --> 00:11:59,552
They were extremely well
organized, and they were
tremendously motivated.

97
00:12:00,353 --> 00:12:04,391
They, they were there to
make the fatherland look
better and they did.

98
00:12:08,695 --> 00:12:12,766
NARRATOR: But he had badly
underestimated the military
might of the Americans,

99
00:12:13,600 --> 00:12:16,503
and their
willingness to use it.

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00:12:16,770 --> 00:12:21,074
TRUMAN: The free nations
have learned a fateful
lesson from the 1930s.

101
00:12:21,108 --> 00:12:24,544
That lesson is that
aggression must be met firmly.

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00:12:27,714 --> 00:12:31,184
NARRATOR: The United States
hit back mercilessly.

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00:12:32,252 --> 00:12:34,554
DANCY (over TV):
During the Korean War
200,000 people

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00:12:34,587 --> 00:12:38,491
lived in Pyongyang,
the North Korean capital.

105
00:12:39,392 --> 00:12:43,864
U.S. bombers dropped
200,000 bombs on the city.

106
00:12:44,664 --> 00:12:47,600
One for every person there.

107
00:12:53,740 --> 00:12:58,245
MERAY: Every city was a
collection of chimneys.

108
00:13:00,213 --> 00:13:04,584
I don't why houses collapsed
and chimneys did not,

109
00:13:05,819 --> 00:13:10,390
but I saw thousands
of chimneys and that was all.

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00:13:17,364 --> 00:13:22,202
NARRATOR: Kim's
dream of reuniting
Korea was in tatters.

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00:13:23,036 --> 00:13:28,175
In a war that lasted
three years, his
country was flattened.

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00:13:28,775 --> 00:13:34,114
More than a million
North Koreans were dead,
and he'd gained nothing.

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00:13:41,388 --> 00:13:43,823
In 1953...

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00:13:43,857 --> 00:13:49,262
Stalin, the man who
had put him in the job, died.

115
00:13:51,531 --> 00:13:56,369
Having lost the Korean
war, and his benefactor,
Kim felt vulnerable.

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00:13:58,738 --> 00:14:03,010
His next move was
to start a program of
controlling his people,

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00:14:03,610 --> 00:14:06,746
the like of which the
world had never seen.

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00:14:07,047 --> 00:14:12,719
POST: One of the best ways
of dealing with criticism is
to get rid of the critics,

119
00:14:14,154 --> 00:14:16,856
and there were two ways of
getting rid of the critics.

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00:14:16,890 --> 00:14:21,094
One was to kill them,
and one was to put
them into the gulag.

121
00:14:23,863 --> 00:14:29,002
The degree of ruthlessness
of Kim Il-Sung
was quite extraordinary.

122
00:14:32,239 --> 00:14:38,578
He developed a kind of caste
system called 'songbun', which
had three basic divisions:

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00:14:39,779 --> 00:14:45,852
those who were loyal,
those who were wavering
and those who were hostile,

124
00:14:48,688 --> 00:14:54,527
and anyone identified as
hostile, including even having
an uncle or a grandfather who

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00:14:56,329 --> 00:15:01,434
was disloyal would lead to
all of the extended family
being sent to the gulag.

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00:16:03,930 --> 00:16:07,534
POST: Hundreds of thousands
were subjected to this.

127
00:16:10,503 --> 00:16:16,076
In effect he went
through a purification
of Korean society.

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00:16:34,561 --> 00:16:37,030
NARRATOR: And so, by
the start of the 1960s,

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00:16:37,064 --> 00:16:40,967
Kim had a grip
on the North Korean people,

130
00:16:41,000 --> 00:16:45,338
and if you looked at
the Korean peninsula as a
whole, it was as if a giant

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00:16:45,372 --> 00:16:48,241
psychology experiment
was unfolding.

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00:16:51,578 --> 00:16:57,050
In the north: communism,
a planned economy,
soviet-style dictatorship.

133
00:17:04,057 --> 00:17:09,496
In the south:
capitalism, free markets,
and American influence.

134
00:17:13,733 --> 00:17:16,703
In the first few years,
the north's organization

135
00:17:16,736 --> 00:17:19,672
and planning
looked like it was working.

136
00:17:19,706 --> 00:17:23,176
Some even defected from
the south to the north.

137
00:17:24,043 --> 00:17:29,716
But as the south started
to prosper it would become
painfully obvious which system

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00:17:29,982 --> 00:17:32,985
was making people richer.

139
00:17:38,491 --> 00:17:43,096
While president Johnson
visited the south, Kim was
plotting his next move.

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00:17:45,665 --> 00:17:50,937
POST: The key ingredients
of dictators are paranoia,

141
00:17:51,604 --> 00:17:54,574
no capacity for empathy,

142
00:17:54,607 --> 00:17:57,177
and a willingness
to use whatever aggression

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00:17:57,210 --> 00:18:01,681
is necessary
to accomplish one's goals.

144
00:18:02,649 --> 00:18:07,154
NARRATOR: Kim believed that
the South Korean people were
desperate to be liberated,

145
00:18:07,187 --> 00:18:11,591
and given the opportunity,
would rise up and support him.

146
00:18:13,926 --> 00:18:18,598
So, he hatched a plan to kill
the president of South Korea.

147
00:18:25,372 --> 00:18:29,041
NARRATOR: Only three men
have ever ruled North Korea,

148
00:18:31,178 --> 00:18:33,346
and the template
for how to do it

149
00:18:33,380 --> 00:18:37,750
was set by the first Kim,
the grandfather, Kim Il-Sung.

150
00:18:41,588 --> 00:18:45,758
In 1968 he wanted
to strike a blow at his
South Korean neighbors,

151
00:18:49,762 --> 00:18:53,266
so he sent 31 of his top
commandos over the border.

152
00:18:56,536 --> 00:19:00,807
Their mission:
to go to the blue house
where the South Korean

153
00:19:00,840 --> 00:19:04,277
president lived and kill him.

154
00:19:07,847 --> 00:19:12,585
One of Kim's commandos
survives to tell the tale.

155
00:21:31,591 --> 00:21:34,727
NARRATOR: Kim's
commandos were expected
to take their own lives,

156
00:21:34,761 --> 00:21:36,663
rather than be captured.

157
00:21:58,050 --> 00:22:00,653
NARRATOR: Having
not taken his own life,

158
00:22:00,687 --> 00:22:03,390
he knew there
would be consequences.

159
00:23:09,589 --> 00:23:14,561
NARRATOR: If Kim thought
that the South Koreans
wanted to be led by him,

160
00:23:14,594 --> 00:23:17,396
he was badly mistaken.

161
00:23:19,265 --> 00:23:23,936
In fact, after the
blue house raid, they burned
effigies of him in the streets.

162
00:23:36,716 --> 00:23:41,053
Kim needed to
bolster his image.

163
00:23:41,087 --> 00:23:44,924
To help him, he
turned to his son.

164
00:23:48,595 --> 00:23:51,998
The second member
of the Kim dynasty.

165
00:23:53,365 --> 00:23:58,170
Kim Jong-Il would ultimately
succeed his father and
prove to be an eccentric and

166
00:23:58,204 --> 00:24:01,140
unpredictable leader.

167
00:24:03,776 --> 00:24:06,646
But as a young man,
he had a genius for

168
00:24:06,679 --> 00:24:12,752
propaganda and began
a process of turning
his father into a god

169
00:24:13,886 --> 00:24:16,889
in the minds
of the North Korean people.

170
00:24:23,730 --> 00:24:28,501
(singing in Korean).

171
00:24:28,901 --> 00:24:33,439
He started by showing
his father as the
father of the nation,

172
00:24:33,740 --> 00:24:37,343
the person who gave every
child their food and clothes.

173
00:24:39,912 --> 00:24:44,684
(singing in Korean).

174
00:24:45,652 --> 00:24:50,256
All religions were
stamped out, and a massive
statue-building program began.

175
00:25:04,003 --> 00:25:10,076
POST: While we may know the
country was devastated, and is
economically a basket case at

176
00:25:10,109 --> 00:25:16,549
this point, the people of
North Korea don't know because
of this Bureau of Propaganda

177
00:25:18,050 --> 00:25:21,888
and Agitation which shapes
the nation's consciousness.

178
00:25:24,591 --> 00:25:29,261
The Hermit Kingdom is an apt
description for North Korea.

179
00:25:29,662 --> 00:25:32,565
A, people couldn't leave.

180
00:25:32,599 --> 00:25:36,068
And B, people couldn't come
in so it's isolated and

181
00:25:36,102 --> 00:25:39,606
has no access to
international communication.

182
00:25:45,912 --> 00:25:50,883
NARRATOR: A potent cocktail
of isolation, fear, and
propaganda put the Kim's on

183
00:25:50,917 --> 00:25:54,520
the path to becoming gods in
the minds of their people.

184
00:26:00,660 --> 00:26:05,097
Next, they would start to
take on their arch-enemies:
the Americans.

185
00:26:12,672 --> 00:26:16,208
POST: I think it's
important to understand
the value of enemies.

186
00:26:17,509 --> 00:26:20,546
Enemies are to be cherished,
they're to be cultivated.

187
00:26:23,249 --> 00:26:27,920
It's convenient to
have someone to blame for
your leadership failures.

188
00:27:13,365 --> 00:27:17,569
NARRATOR: For Kim, having
the constant threat of war
with America was useful in

189
00:27:17,603 --> 00:27:22,541
controlling his people;
any sign that America was
threatening North Korea was

190
00:27:23,175 --> 00:27:26,612
helpful in making
him their protector.

191
00:27:28,347 --> 00:27:32,618
So, when a US spy ship was
seen off the coast, it was an
opportunity for Kim to define

192
00:27:32,651 --> 00:27:35,688
himself in the
eyes of his people.

193
00:28:28,374 --> 00:28:32,011
CHICCA: The first shots
were aimed at the bridge,
shattering glass and raking

194
00:28:32,711 --> 00:28:36,215
the ship back and forth
with machine gun fire.

195
00:28:39,018 --> 00:28:43,289
The Pueblo was an intelligence
collection ship to pick
up electronic surveillance in

196
00:28:43,322 --> 00:28:45,591
Russia and North Korea.

197
00:28:46,325 --> 00:28:50,096
But we were unarmed,
totally unarmed.

198
00:28:54,266 --> 00:28:58,537
They started shooting their,
their bigger shells at us that
came right through the side of

199
00:28:58,838 --> 00:29:01,874
the ship and just blew us up.

200
00:29:01,908 --> 00:29:05,544
And it just literally lifted
me up, blew me down the hall.

201
00:29:05,577 --> 00:29:09,415
It took off the bottom
of my scrotum and went
into my upper leg.

202
00:29:12,751 --> 00:29:17,723
Eventually when the Koreans
came on board the ship they
tied us up and blindfolded us.

203
00:29:18,257 --> 00:29:21,360
And matter of fact they
kicked me in my wound.

204
00:29:22,328 --> 00:29:26,665
NARRATOR: Kim had captured
a US Navy vessel and had
taken 82 Americans prisoner.

205
00:29:31,904 --> 00:29:35,707
In the middle of the
night, the president of the
United States was informed.

206
00:29:39,345 --> 00:29:41,480
JOHNSON (over phone):
What's your speculation
on what happened to...

207
00:29:41,747 --> 00:29:44,683
MCNAMARA (over phone):
Mr. President, I
honestly don't know,

208
00:29:44,716 --> 00:29:47,386
and I think we need
a Cuban Missile Crisis
approach to this (bleep)

209
00:29:47,419 --> 00:29:49,721
we ought to get locked
in a room and you
ought to keep us there,

210
00:29:49,755 --> 00:29:51,623
insist we stay there
until we come up with

211
00:29:51,657 --> 00:29:55,461
answers to three
questions: what was the
Korean objective, secondly,

212
00:29:55,494 --> 00:29:59,365
what are they going to do
now, blackmail us, let it go,

213
00:29:59,832 --> 00:30:01,968
you know, what's,
what's, and thirdly,

214
00:30:02,001 --> 00:30:04,436
what should we do now?

215
00:30:05,905 --> 00:30:08,841
JOHNSON: President
Johnson is at the head of
the table, his back to us,

216
00:30:10,609 --> 00:30:13,279
and that is I, Tom Johnson.

217
00:30:14,246 --> 00:30:16,148
Taking the notes.

218
00:30:16,182 --> 00:30:21,587
"The President: What I want
to know is how do we get
the ship and the boys back."

219
00:30:23,489 --> 00:30:24,857
"Clark Clifford."

220
00:30:24,891 --> 00:30:27,960
"I think the President
must proceed on the
basis of probabilities

221
00:30:27,994 --> 00:30:29,628
and not possibilities.

222
00:30:29,661 --> 00:30:32,431
I think the North Koreans
are engaged in harassments."

223
00:30:33,665 --> 00:30:37,536
"A moral posture
would be better if the
North Koreans move first.

224
00:30:37,569 --> 00:30:43,642
I am deeply sorry about the
ship, and about the 83 men,
but I do not think it is worth

225
00:30:43,675 --> 00:30:47,213
a resumption of
the Korean War."

226
00:30:49,681 --> 00:30:55,354
There was deep concern
that however the
United States reacted

227
00:30:56,655 --> 00:31:02,328
militarily could trigger
another large-scale war.

228
00:31:04,496 --> 00:31:09,601
And the United States, to be
honest, was not prepared for
another large war when we

229
00:31:10,669 --> 00:31:15,607
already had a very, very
serious war going in Vietnam.

230
00:31:16,242 --> 00:31:21,013
And that was something
President Johnson wanted to
avoid at almost all cost.

231
00:31:33,492 --> 00:31:35,894
CHICCA: For the first 40
days I don't think they knew
what they were going to do

232
00:31:35,928 --> 00:31:41,567
with us, whether they were
going to keep us alive,
I think they fully were as

233
00:31:41,600 --> 00:31:45,037
surprised as we were that
there was no retaliation.

234
00:31:46,372 --> 00:31:50,576
We fully expected
retaliation and we knew
we might not make it.

235
00:31:54,480 --> 00:32:00,052
Obviously, no one likes the
idea of dying, however, uh,
we really wanted some help

236
00:32:00,619 --> 00:32:04,023
and it just didn't come.

237
00:32:16,568 --> 00:32:21,507
NARRATOR: Kim Il-Sung used
the capture of the pueblo
as a propaganda triumph.

238
00:32:25,511 --> 00:32:28,380
CHICCA: We never saw
him, he never came by.

239
00:32:28,414 --> 00:32:32,384
But we were very
aware, from, from the very
beginning, of Kim Il-Sung.

240
00:32:34,086 --> 00:32:37,056
Actually, you never
just said Kim Il-Sung.

241
00:32:37,089 --> 00:32:41,593
It would be always preceded
or followed by these
long eulogies of praise.

242
00:32:43,695 --> 00:32:48,734
I just memorized one of them
for the hell of it: "Peerless
patriot ever-victorious

243
00:32:48,767 --> 00:32:53,472
iron-willed genius
commander, and one of the
outstanding international and

244
00:32:53,505 --> 00:32:57,543
working-class movement
leaders, Marshal Kim Il-Sung."

245
00:32:59,011 --> 00:33:02,148
It had to be said
with reverence.

246
00:33:03,749 --> 00:33:08,220
Actually, we had talked about
if he came by we'd try to jump
him and see if we could use

247
00:33:08,254 --> 00:33:11,823
him as a hostage to
get out of there.

248
00:33:13,759 --> 00:33:18,064
NARRATOR: Kim paraded the
captured Americans in front of
the cameras and forced them to

249
00:33:18,097 --> 00:33:21,667
confess to having
been in Korean waters.

250
00:33:21,700 --> 00:33:25,537
REPORTER: The crew
unanimously admitted the fact
that they had intruded deep in

251
00:33:25,571 --> 00:33:29,675
territorial waters,
and conducted espionage
on 17 occasions,

252
00:33:30,542 --> 00:33:34,146
and signed a joint apology
to the DPRK government.

253
00:33:35,314 --> 00:33:41,487
BUCHER: To my mind it was the
deepest intrusion I had ever
made into the waters of the

254
00:33:42,654 --> 00:33:46,192
Democratic People's
Republic of Korea.

255
00:33:49,395 --> 00:33:54,066
NARRATOR: With 82 Americans in
captivity, the US government
signed a statement of apology,

256
00:33:55,601 --> 00:33:59,505
prepared by the North
Koreans, and so, avoided
another Korean war.

257
00:34:10,582 --> 00:34:14,620
REPORTER (over TV): The US
representative was so confused
that he even forgot to

258
00:34:14,653 --> 00:34:17,689
write a date in the apology.

259
00:34:20,759 --> 00:34:22,961
CHICCA: All of a sudden,
the beatings just stopped.

260
00:34:22,994 --> 00:34:27,533
Everyone that had visible
bruises and things like that
were doctored up a bit for a

261
00:34:27,566 --> 00:34:31,237
trip down to Panmunjom,
turned us loose.

262
00:34:34,740 --> 00:34:38,009
REPORTER (over TV): Here at
the Bridge of No Return the
members of the Pueblo are

263
00:34:38,043 --> 00:34:39,845
returning to U.S. custody.

264
00:34:39,878 --> 00:34:42,514
The transfer is
taking place just 11 months
to the day after the Pueblo

265
00:34:42,548 --> 00:34:45,251
was captured
off Wonsan Harbor.

266
00:34:47,553 --> 00:34:50,256
When they reached the free
side of the bridge, they
began to relax a little,

267
00:34:50,989 --> 00:34:54,826
perhaps finally comprehending
that the idea and dream of
being home for Christmas

268
00:34:54,860 --> 00:34:57,896
was all but a reality.

269
00:35:04,836 --> 00:35:09,741
NARRATOR: To this day,
the USS Pueblo sits in
North Korean waters,

270
00:35:10,342 --> 00:35:12,778
a trophy for the Kim's.

271
00:35:12,811 --> 00:35:18,484
And for his people, further
evidence that the first
Kim could do no wrong.

272
00:35:21,052 --> 00:35:25,357
Fifty years later, his
grandson is keeping
the myth alive.

273
00:35:30,762 --> 00:35:34,200
LEE: Kim Jong-Un in
particular is very strategic
about what he wears.

274
00:35:37,336 --> 00:35:43,442
Often, he'll wear say a hat,
and clothes that are identical
to an outfit that his

275
00:35:43,709 --> 00:35:46,478
grandfather wore.

276
00:35:47,546 --> 00:35:51,149
That's a way that
Kim Jong-Un piggybacks on
his grandfather's legacy,

277
00:35:51,183 --> 00:35:53,585
to legitimize his
role as the leader.

278
00:35:54,553 --> 00:35:59,558
This is meant to refer
back to a certain period
in North Korean history.

279
00:36:00,759 --> 00:36:03,662
North Koreans are going
to remember that, they're
going to see that and say,

280
00:36:03,695 --> 00:36:07,266
'Ah he's just like
his grandfather.'

281
00:36:09,935 --> 00:36:13,171
(cheering).

282
00:36:13,205 --> 00:36:18,143
NARRATOR: In the late 1960s,
his grandfather was developing
a taste for brinkmanship

283
00:36:18,176 --> 00:36:21,347
with the United States.

284
00:36:21,380 --> 00:36:25,517
But his next move
would take him and his
country to the limit.

285
00:36:34,726 --> 00:36:37,663
NARRATOR: In the 1970s,
the world changed.

286
00:36:38,330 --> 00:36:41,900
President Nixon went to
China to meet chairman MAO.

287
00:36:48,740 --> 00:36:51,377
NIXON: There is no reason
for us to be enemies.

288
00:36:53,245 --> 00:36:57,383
NARRATOR: And he travelled
to the Soviet Union to
make deals with Brezhnev.

289
00:37:14,500 --> 00:37:18,203
All of which was bad
news for Kim Il-Sung.

290
00:37:18,704 --> 00:37:21,840
He'd been relying
on his fellow communist
leaders for back-up

291
00:37:21,873 --> 00:37:25,277
in his battles with America.

292
00:37:25,744 --> 00:37:30,682
However, if he was
feeling less support, at
first, he didn't show it,

293
00:37:32,083 --> 00:37:35,587
as he continued to
attack his enemies.

294
00:37:38,657 --> 00:37:41,760
(shouting and gunfire).

295
00:37:46,832 --> 00:37:49,801
REPORTER (over TV):
The defendant, 22-year-old
Mun Se-Gwang admitted he

296
00:37:49,835 --> 00:37:53,038
attempted to kill South Korean
President Park Chung-Hee,

297
00:37:53,739 --> 00:37:56,675
but had not intended
killing Madame Park.

298
00:37:56,708 --> 00:38:01,580
He said he acted under
orders from North Korean
Communist agents in Japan.

299
00:38:08,920 --> 00:38:13,659
NARRATOR: Then, in 1976,
the fate of North Korea
hung in the balance.

300
00:38:15,226 --> 00:38:18,997
It came down to an event
in the demilitarized zone,

301
00:38:19,765 --> 00:38:23,735
an event that centered
around a single tree.

302
00:38:31,543 --> 00:38:34,380
REPORTER (over TV): The
Demilitarized Zone between
the two Koreas is one of the

303
00:38:34,413 --> 00:38:37,516
world's great artificial
ideological fault lines.

304
00:38:40,586 --> 00:38:44,289
Here the great
plates of the Capitalist
and Communist worlds press

305
00:38:44,322 --> 00:38:47,058
and chafe against each other.

306
00:38:47,092 --> 00:38:50,829
It's a place of suspicion,
bristling with mutual
threat and mutual fear.

307
00:39:00,972 --> 00:39:06,077
VIERRA: There was a poplar
tree, which are usually very
slender and don't sprawl.

308
00:39:07,913 --> 00:39:11,517
But this tree was
a sprawling poplar.

309
00:39:12,818 --> 00:39:17,222
It obscured the visibility
between two observation posts,

310
00:39:17,656 --> 00:39:20,726
so the soldiers had brought it
to my attention, and I said,

311
00:39:20,759 --> 00:39:25,697
'Well we'll need to send a work
party to go up there and trim
the lower branches of the tree.'

312
00:39:28,266 --> 00:39:30,201
NARRATOR: Little did they know,

313
00:39:30,235 --> 00:39:33,004
that the North Koreans
believed that this tree had

314
00:39:33,038 --> 00:39:36,908
been planted by
their leader, Kim Il-Sung.

315
00:39:53,358 --> 00:39:56,728
LEHRER (over TV):
Here's the scene: the
UN Command Force begin

316
00:39:56,762 --> 00:40:00,666
their trimming
work on the tree, the
North Koreans arrive now.

317
00:40:00,699 --> 00:40:04,636
After first saying it was
alright to trim it, some
twenty minutes later they

318
00:40:04,670 --> 00:40:06,638
ordered the work to be halted.

319
00:40:06,672 --> 00:40:09,508
As fate would have it, the
Americans are in white hats,

320
00:40:10,375 --> 00:40:12,911
the North Koreans
in the dark ones.

321
00:40:13,545 --> 00:40:17,382
According to witnesses,
a North Korean army
officer yelled, 'Kill!'

322
00:40:17,415 --> 00:40:21,386
and 30 or so North
Korean soldiers grabbed axe
handles and started hitting

323
00:40:21,419 --> 00:40:25,090
the Americans and
their workers.

324
00:40:25,524 --> 00:40:28,994
And suddenly, less than
five minutes after it
all began, it's over.

325
00:40:29,928 --> 00:40:34,633
Left behind, the body of one
of the dead American officers;

326
00:40:34,666 --> 00:40:37,603
the other is in the
bushes here by the tree.

327
00:40:43,742 --> 00:40:48,514
VIERRA: From the moment
the incident occurred, I
received a call from my

328
00:40:49,014 --> 00:40:52,951
commander-in-chief,
General Stilwell,
and he told me,

329
00:40:52,984 --> 00:40:57,589
'You know, we will have
to take some sort of action.'

330
00:40:59,224 --> 00:41:03,662
It went everywhere from
'nuke 'em' to 'run a couple
of divisions up there',

331
00:41:04,696 --> 00:41:07,132
'wipe 'em out'
you know, you name it.

332
00:41:07,165 --> 00:41:10,201
The whole gamut
of military options.

333
00:41:13,672 --> 00:41:19,578
I said, 'My alternative
would be that we form a
task force and we go up there

334
00:41:20,646 --> 00:41:23,048
and we cut the tree down,

335
00:41:23,081 --> 00:41:26,718
completely, and we leave
it there for them to see.'

336
00:41:26,752 --> 00:41:29,888
And he said
immediately, 'I agree.'

337
00:41:34,092 --> 00:41:37,395
NARRATOR: The mission was
called operation Paul Bunyan,

338
00:41:37,428 --> 00:41:40,198
named after the
larger-than-life folk hero.

339
00:41:41,232 --> 00:41:44,803
* PAUL: With my
double-blade ax and my
hobnail boots I go where *

340
00:41:44,836 --> 00:41:47,038
* the timber's tall. *

341
00:41:47,072 --> 00:41:49,675
* When there's work to be
done, don't mess around *

342
00:41:49,708 --> 00:41:51,977
* Just sing
right out for Paul. **

343
00:41:52,377 --> 00:41:55,847
NARRATOR: Bunyan
was immortalized in a
classic 1950s cartoon,

344
00:41:55,881 --> 00:41:58,483
as a symbol of old-fashioned
American strength.

345
00:42:00,251 --> 00:42:01,386
* LUMBERJACKS: Hey Paul! *

346
00:42:01,419 --> 00:42:03,154
PAUL: I'm comin', boys!

347
00:42:03,188 --> 00:42:05,190
* LUMBERJACKS:
Paul Bunyan, **

348
00:42:05,223 --> 00:42:07,826
NARRATOR: No one would be
able to stop Paul Bunyan
chopping down a tree.

349
00:42:12,764 --> 00:42:15,834
HART (over TV): Good evening,
circling over a poplar tree
in the zone between the two

350
00:42:15,867 --> 00:42:21,239
Koreas were 26 armed
helicopters, an unknown
number of Phantom Jets,

351
00:42:22,207 --> 00:42:28,546
F1-11s and three B-52s; flying
protection for 300 American
and South Korean soldiers who

352
00:42:28,580 --> 00:42:32,017
were cutting the tree down.

353
00:42:32,651 --> 00:42:35,320
REPORTER (over TV):
The aircraft carrier Midway
cruised off the Korean coast

354
00:42:35,353 --> 00:42:38,523
today in response
to the murder of two American
officers in the Demilitarized

355
00:42:38,556 --> 00:42:41,292
Zone between North
and South Korea.

356
00:42:41,326 --> 00:42:43,662
TOMLINSON (over TV): The
Midway and its planes
will augment two U.S.

357
00:42:43,695 --> 00:42:47,766
Air Force fighter squadrons
already sent to Korea
from Okinawa and Idaho.

358
00:42:49,835 --> 00:42:54,272
VIERRA: We assembled
the largest combined
military operation since

359
00:42:54,840 --> 00:42:57,442
the end of the Korean War.

360
00:42:59,077 --> 00:43:02,648
Every soldier with a gun
pointed into North Korea.

361
00:43:03,882 --> 00:43:06,652
HART (over TV): President
Ford's new secretary Ron
Messing said the President

362
00:43:06,685 --> 00:43:10,355
himself approved the
plan to go in there
and cut down the tree.

363
00:43:10,756 --> 00:43:14,425
CHANCELLOR (over TV): The
North Koreans called President
Ford a 'boss of war'.

364
00:43:15,193 --> 00:43:17,729
(inaudible radio).

365
00:43:18,897 --> 00:43:23,902
VIERRA: I was on the ground,
going to cut down the tree,

366
00:43:23,935 --> 00:43:27,338
but all of this
was backing me up.

367
00:43:28,039 --> 00:43:32,678
The North Koreans knew the ships
were off the coast, they knew
the bombers were above them,

368
00:43:34,079 --> 00:43:36,514
they could tell that,
they could surveil that.

369
00:43:36,547 --> 00:43:38,483
MAN (over radio):
At our discretion.

370
00:43:42,721 --> 00:43:45,991
VIERRA: It was a tinderbox;
any spark could set if off.

371
00:43:49,560 --> 00:43:53,899
As far as I was concerned,
it was the last day I'd
be alive on this earth.

372
00:44:04,409 --> 00:44:08,446
We used chainsaws to
cut down the tree.

373
00:44:08,479 --> 00:44:13,685
We just let it fall where
it lay with no regard,
just a ragged stump there.

374
00:44:15,586 --> 00:44:18,356
Mission complete.

375
00:44:19,257 --> 00:44:24,662
I'm sure the magnitude of the
force played a large measure
in their deciding it was not a

376
00:44:26,231 --> 00:44:28,867
good idea to respond.

377
00:44:29,200 --> 00:44:32,403
TOMLINSON (over TV): North
Korea has expressed regret
over the killing of two

378
00:44:32,437 --> 00:44:35,707
American Army officers
in the Demilitarized
Zone last Wednesday.

379
00:44:35,741 --> 00:44:39,377
However, the regret was
expressed in passing in a
statement that implied that

380
00:44:39,410 --> 00:44:42,680
the United States
provoked the incident.

381
00:44:43,014 --> 00:44:46,617
NARRATOR: The North
Koreans backed down.

382
00:44:46,651 --> 00:44:49,487
MURPHY: The United States
didn't want to go to
war over this incident,

383
00:44:50,588 --> 00:44:55,026
neither did China or Russia,
and they made it clear to Kim
that he was not going to be

384
00:44:55,060 --> 00:44:58,096
backed up, and they said
you'd better apologize.

385
00:44:58,663 --> 00:45:03,668
This was the first instance in
the entire time that Kim has
been leading North Korea that

386
00:45:03,935 --> 00:45:06,938
he ever apologized
for anything.

387
00:45:09,474 --> 00:45:13,678
NARRATOR: The tree-cutting
incident showed that even
Kim Il-Sung had his limits.

388
00:45:15,380 --> 00:45:19,517
When faced with the threat
of overwhelming force, he
stepped back from the brink.

389
00:45:21,887 --> 00:45:25,556
For other world leaders,
such a public climbdown
might have been a problem,

390
00:45:26,691 --> 00:45:29,527
but not for him.

391
00:45:29,560 --> 00:45:34,232
By now it made no
difference to how his
people felt about him.

392
00:45:34,665 --> 00:45:39,237
His social control, and
his son's propaganda, were
giving him complete control

393
00:45:39,938 --> 00:45:42,207
of his people's minds.

394
00:46:04,930 --> 00:46:09,367
POST: As Kim Il-Sung aged,
and saw time is shortening

395
00:46:11,569 --> 00:46:17,175
they increasingly became
preoccupied with getting
a nuclear program.

396
00:46:21,012 --> 00:46:25,483
NARRATOR:
His son, who had given his
father god-like status,

397
00:46:25,516 --> 00:46:29,687
was beginning to have designs
on becoming leader himself.

398
00:46:34,025 --> 00:46:38,663
POST: It's always difficult
to succeed a great father.

399
00:46:39,764 --> 00:46:44,602
But it's almost impossible to
step into the shoes of God.

400
00:47:04,655 --> 00:47:06,324
Captioned by Cotter
Captioning Services.