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According to Jang, the power basis of leader Kim Jong-un is faltering. In Leiden’s Academy Building, Jang explained that a form of civil war is raging throughout the country, between the old party elite and the emerging elite that is benefiting from the new private market. Failing government policies led to famines. As a result, citizens and companies began trading among themselves, which created a large-scale black market. Jang (not his real name) fled in 2004 to South Korea. He was the favourite court poet of Kim Jong-il but became disillusioned when he understood how much the people were suffering. Earlier this year he published his memoirs under the title Dear Leader.
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