This article is the third in a series, trying to make sense of where we’re at with North Korea right now and what is really going on. Ambitious or what? Fools rush in, as the song says.

Each article is self-contained, but reading the earlier ones first may help to follow the overall thread. I began, as one must, with Kim Jong Un – and how he began. He’s a man with a plan, in three stages, but many of us missed that. The world misunderestimated Kim at every turn.

First, he had to cement his power at home.