Kim Jong Un and North Korea's Mysteries

The mysterious disappearance of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has sparked a frenzy of speculation around the world. Depending on which wild rumor one believes, the Supreme Leader is either sick or dead, has been overthrown in a coup or is simply toying with the outside world yet again. The whole episode further underscores just how little we know about what's going on inside the Hermit Kingdom.

What little we think we know, in fact, is often wrong. When most people picture North Korea, they imagine a broken country, with skeletal citizens trudging along below slate-gray skies. Foreigners who make it to Pyongyang nowadays discover instead a city whose residents are poor but by no means destitute. While obesity remains a rare sight, so is starvation; indeed, restaurants are booming. Traffic jams are not infrequent, as both expats and regular visitors testify.