Some send flowers, others cards, but after hearing about the death of communist Kim Jong-il, most of the civilized world breathed a sigh of relief.  Yet, ever a friend to communists, former President Jimmy Carter was duty-bound to send condolences to Kim Jong-il's heir, Kim Jong-un.

According to a Korean news agency, Jimmy Carter sent condolences to the newly-installed figurehead "Kim Jong-un and the Korean people over the demise of leader Kim Jong-il."  Carter "wished Kim Jong-un every success as he assumes his new responsibility of leadership," and said he was "looking forward to another visit to [North Korea] in the future."  

After sending the communiqué, Mr. Carter did not expound on the "every success" comment because, according to a spokesperson, he was "out of the office until the New Year."  It was not reported as to whether his Christmas disappearance had anything do to with the return trip to North Korea that Carter said he was anxious to make.

While it's so thoughtful of Mr. Carter to "mourn with those who mourn," it would be interesting to know what the ex-president hopes 'Un' the successor will be successful at.

Is Mr. Carter hopeful that Kim Jong-il's son will thrive as he carries out his father's reign of terror against the North Korean people?  How about being just as loony as the old man?  Is Carter extending best wishes for continued brutal totalitarian oppression over 25 million people who subsist on grass and tree bark while Dear Leader and his cronies enjoy the finest luxuries money can buy?

When Jimmy extended fond wishes for every success, did that include Lil' Un maintaining his father's "military first" policy? Or the hope that, if another famine hits the socialist nation, only one million instead of two million people will succumb to state-induced death by starvation?

Jimmy Carter visited North Korea twice: once in 1994 soon after the death of Kim Il-sung, and again around the time of a huge famine. It was then that Nobel Peace Prize winner Carter participated in brokering the Clinton administration's agreement to sign an accord with Pyongyang to "freeze" the nuclear program.

At the time, North Korea agreed to "dismantle its nuclear-weapons program in exchange for oil deliveries and the construction of two nuclear reactors." The deal fell through during the Bush administration, and in 2006 North Korea became successful at becoming "world's eighth atomic power."

Fortunately, thus far North Korea has only been unsuccessful in terms of delivering what it has worked so hard to proliferate. But Jimmy isn't concerned about that; he knows that persistence always pays off in the end.

Furthermore, in extending his heartfelt sympathy, Jimmy Carter avoided insult by not mentioning North Korean successes such as: launching missiles and reactivating its nuclear program; "reprocessing thousands of spent nuclear fuel rods;" withdrawing from the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty; or its continued flouting of Six-Party talks and ongoing aggression toward both the United States and South Korea. 

Neither did Carter's "every success" message touch upon former US Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates' 2011 prediction that North Korea was "within five years of being able to strike the continental United States with an intercontinental ballistic missile."

Always the consummate statesman, in 2010 when North Korea attacked a South Korean island, the rarely competent but always compassionate Carter said that he believed Kim Jong-il's belligerent and aggressive acts were merely "designed to remind the world that [North Korea] deserves respect in negotiations that will shape their future."

With the military's decision to share power with Lil' Un, Carter's wish for "every success" could very well come true --- and soon -- if North Korea gains "respect in negotiations" by finally attaining long sought-after success in the form of a rocket delivery system that can reach and "shape the future" of any nation it chooses.

Author's content: www.jeannie-ology.com