Slam Dunk the Jongs?

The debate over which Kim Jong-son, Kim Jong-un or Kim Jong-nam, will take over for their father as the “Dear Leader” of North Korea was perhaps thankfully cleared up when the elder son, Jong-nam, according to the New York Times told Japanese television reporters in a recent interview in Macao, a Portguese colony near Hong Kong, that he is “not involved in political affairs in North Korea.”

Nevertheless, the Times says analysts and spy agencies say its Jong-nam’s “appetite for gambling and women” that lost him the opportunity.

This issue has taken on new relevance with reports in North Korea that their leader Kim Jong-il is indeed ill. For the United States, which has watched with horror in recent weeks as the North Koreans have apparently proved they have nuclear bombs, they now must figure out how to deal with the recent banishment of two journalists in the employ of Al Gore’s Current TV channel to one of the country’s notorious, harsh labor camps.

Let’s hope the “un” in Kim Jong-un means he is un-like his father and a light out of this diplomatic tussle. We do know that Jong-un is like Jong-il in that they are both fans of NBA basketball.

Maybe a couple of hoop stars, then, might be able to slam dunk the Jongs into setting the journalists, and their country, free? I’d send Michael Jordan, Lebron James, Yao Ming, and, why not, fellow hoops fan, Barack Obama. Obama did say he would try to talk to America’s enemies as a presidential candidate.