so this is a dismal legacy indeed. >> brown: victor cha, what would you add to that? >> three things. the first is that the cultic personality. all of this about the great leader, the dear leader, the next successor, all of these things were things that were actually created by kim jong il when he was the understudy to his father. there was a competition among the family members about who would succeed him. he created this personality cult as a way to gain favor with his father. as we see in terms of this today is thanks to him. secondly, i think most importantly we should remember that, i mean, north korea truly did become a nuclear weapons state under kim jong il. in a north korean narrative that's the great security contribution he's made to the country. the third and one i don't think people focus on but is very important for the future of the country is in many ways you could say that the legacy of kim jong il was that he also created markets in north korea in the sense that he allowed the country to go bankrupt. he allowed the ration system to fail and basically

so this is a dismal legacy indeed. >> brown: victor cha, what would you add to that? >> three things. the first is that the cultic personality. all of this about the great leader, the dear leader, the next successor, all of these things were things that were actually created by kim jong il when he was the understudy to his father. there was a competition among the family members about who would succeed him. he created this personality cult as a way to gain favor with his father. as we see in terms of this today is thanks to him. secondly, i think most importantly we should remember that, i mean, north korea truly did become a nuclear weapons state under kim jong il. in a north korean narrative that's the great security contribution he's made to the country. the third and one i don't think people focus on but is very important for the future of the country is in many ways you could say that the legacy of kim jong il was that he also created markets in north korea in the sense that he allowed the country to go bankrupt. he allowed the ration system to fail and basically

so this is a dismal legacy indeed. >> brown: victor cha, what would you add to that? >> three things. the first is that the cultic personality. all of this about the great leader, the dear leader, the next successor, all of these things were things that were actually created by kim jong il when he was the understudy to his father. there was a competition among the family members about who would succeed him. he created this personality cult as a way to gain favor with his father. as we see in terms of this today is thanks to him. secondly, i think most importantly we should remember that, i mean, north korea truly did become a nuclear weapons state under kim jong il. in a north korean narrative that's the great security contribution he's made to the country. the third and one i don't think people focus on but is very important for the future of the country is in many ways you could say that the legacy of kim jong il was that he also created markets in north korea in the sense that he allowed the country to go bankrupt. he allowed the ration system to fail and basically

victor cha was chief negotiator under president bush. p.j.ey severed as state department spokesman and david albright has visited the north several times and in fact, you were there only three weeks ago. you've seen signs recently that we were moving towards some sort of resumption of talks, diplomats in beijing that were supposed to be doing the first steps towards that today. this put everything on hold. >> one of the tests of the stability of the succession will be if the negotiations bear some fruit. in one of the legacy now of kim jong-il was to have a very prosperous 2012 and part of that is to have better relations with the united states, so we'll see if the negotiations pick up. i would assume there will be some number of weeks where nothing will happen, but i think the north koreans want to improve relations with the united states. >> victor cha, you were involved in the last go around in that mrks under george w. bush. there were setback after setback and accusations of lying and cheating on the nuclear program by the north. why sho

caller: thank you and good morning, and thank you for having victor cha on.ould like to frame my comments and questions with a quote about gondi. he says "your christ i like, you're christians i do not like ." i use that as a reminder to consciously live what i believe. when we talk about the role of religion in politics, maybe we can extend the discussion to race relations. a couple of weeks ago, there was a call from a 91-year-old woman who was a christian and talk about her support for newt gingrich, and that the end of her comment she said a shockingly racist statement. why do christians seem to have a lack of consciousness about being bigoted? what could pastors or people to to have a greater conflation of our christian beliefs with our day-to-day attitudes and behaviors? guest: one of the things people always say is the reason the apostle paul and peter had success is there were not a bunch of christians around to when the message before they got to preach it. no christian is perfect. we do not ask you to worship us. jesus is perfect. we are imperfect.

tim, thank you very much. >>> bring in victor cha, a senior adviser at north korea.r being with us. i'm reading something you published this morning in the "financial times" where you say, i could not think of less ideal conditions in a north korea context under which the so-called great successor could be given the reigns of power. the great successor what the north koreans are calling kim jong-il's son, who may be 27 or 28 years old. victor, why are you so concerned about this? >> well, ali i think largely because, if you ask anybody inside or outside the government and the region what would be the most concerning conditions under which the north korean regime would be existing, it would be, if someone told you the sudden death of the current lead perp that. that's basically the situation we're now in. they've basically been trying to hand over power to the young son, you said, is not yet barely 30 years old. you need a new ideology that accompanies a new leadership sme have not created an ideology for him at least publicly, and this guy has really no experience, c

our guest is victor cha. will get your phone calls in a moment.u can join the conversation online. or send us an e-mail or join us on facebook. one of the point, this goes into a time when perspective. he wrote in the financial times just last week the u.s. which is engaging in painstaking diplomacy with north koreans on food aid agreement and recovering the remains of prisoners of war. these bits of diplomacy constituted small bites of the apple. we are not talking about a whole new apple. >> guest: right. the administration i think was in the process of trying to get back to a denuclearization negotiation with north korea when all of this happened. and while i think that they were right to try to do this, and he should continue to try to do this, what we are faced with now is a whole new type of nuclear problem in north korea. up until the death of kim jong-il it was really about denuclearization. but if this regime can't hold it together, if we start seeing signs or news reports that something is amiss in the leadership transition, the dimensio

our guest is victor cha with the center for strategic and international studies. a focus on religion and politics with religion and politics with richard la

victor cha joins us.nversation on the role that faith and religion play in american politics. we will talk with richard land of the southern baptist convention and jim wallis of sojourners. then matt laslo on how campaigns are targeting and tracking voters online. "washington journal" each morning at 7:00 a.m. eastern here on c-span. >> have you tried the free c- span radio app? here is what users are saying. >> all some application. it took me 10 seconds to learn how to use it. >> anytime, anywhere, it streaming audio of c-span radio as well as all three c-span television networks, including live coverage of congress. you can also look at our interview programs. c-span, available wherever you are. find out more at c-span.org /radioapp. >> next to discussion on the affect of that that of the korean leader kim jong il. it is hosted by the korea economic institute, the center for strategic and international studies, and the council on foreign relations. it is an hour and 20 minutes. >> today's program is jo

. >> reporter: but victor cha who dealt with the regime says what kim didn't do was prepare everyone his own sudden death. now, cha says we're left with very little to go on with kim jong-un. that's partly because kim jong-un is only in his late 20s and also he had such a short apprenticeship for this short position compared to the 20 something years his father spent preparing for the job. widespread reports that kim jong-un went to boarding school in switzerland and can speak english. >> reporter: that's not going to help him among north korea's military elite, who may not want to accept orders from someone who is not even 30. i asked cha while kim jong-irx l didn't tap his oldest son, kim jong-nam. >> he came into leadership with his lifestyle and he tends to be a playboy and likes to gamble and keeps a condo. >> reporter: according to analysts quoted on diplomatic cables posted on wikileaks. the second oldest son kim jong-chol so it fell to the youngest son. analysts say the plan was for the late leader's brother-in-law to be a key player behind the scenes while the other kim soli

victor cha is joining us, a professor at the university in washington.e served on the national security council as the director of asian affairs under the president george w. bush. thanks for coming in. kjong-ukim jong-un, people say studied briefly in switzerland whachlt do we know about him? >> we know very little about him. there are wide reported stories that in high school he spent some time in switzerland and people hope that means he's going to be more of a reformer. but the fact of the matter is we don't know. this is the most opaque regime that is a nuclear weapons state and now they have a leadership vacuum in which a kid is basically trying to run the country. so it's not a good situation at all. >> this talk that his uncle would be the regent, if you will, at least for the time being, is that serious talk or just guesswork? >> i think it's -- it is a bit of guesswork. i think essentially when you have a young leader like this they are going to try to surround him and that's what they have done the past two years is surround them with elders i

victor cha joins us. that faith and religion play in american politics. willis -- we will talk to richard land. later, how campaigns are cracking and targeting voters on line. each morning at 7:00 eastern on c-span. >> with the iowa caucuses and new hampshire primary next month, "of the contenders" looks back at the 14 men who ran for president and lost. here is carolina. tonight, james blaine. wednesday, william jennings bryant. thursday, eugene debs. saturday, al smith. followed by wendell willkie. every night at 10:00 eastern on c-span. >> have the pride of free seats band radio app? the c-span app is fast -- have you tried it the free c-span at radio app? the c-span at thing is free. it took me about 10 seconds to learn how to use it. >> anytime, anywhere, it is dreaming access of c-span radio. --get streaming access to cspan radio. c-span, it is available wherever you are. find out more at c- span.org/radioapp. in a few moments we are going to take your calls as we look at today's action rejecting a

caller: thank you and good morning, and thank you for having victor cha on. i would like to frame my comments and questions with a quote about gondi. he says "your christ i like, you're christians i do not like." i use that as a reminder to consciously live what i believe. when we talk about the role of religion in politics, maybe we can extend the discussion to race relations. a couple of weeks ago, there was a call from a 91-year-old woman who was a christian and talk about her support for newt gingrich, and that the end of her comment she said a shockingly racist statement. why do christians seem to have a lack of consciousness about being bigoted? what could pastors or people to to have a greater conflation of our christian beliefs with our day-to-day attitudes and behaviors? guest: one of the things people always say is the reason the apostle paul and peter had success is there were not a bunch of christians around to when the message before they got -- ruin the message before they got to preach it. no christian is perfect. we do not ask you to worship u

. >> reporter: victor cha who dealt with the regime while on president bush's security council, kim didn'ten death. now cha says we're left with little to go on with kim jong un. partly because kim jong un is only in his late 20s and also because he's had such a short apresentishship to this position compared to the 20-something years his father spent preparing for the job. there are widespread reports kim jong un went to boarding school in switzerland and can speak english and nerm german. he's said to have an affinity for james bond, and that's not going to help to accept orders from someone who's not yet 30. i asked why he didn't tap his older son. >> reports, he came into great disfavor with the leadership, because of his lifestyle. he tends to be a bit of a playboy and likes to gamble. keeps a condo. >> reporter: according to analysts on diplomatic cables posted on wikileaks, the second son, which had to feminine to be a leader. it fell to his third son. the latest brother, his uncle, to be a key player behind the scenes while the younger kim solidifies his leadership. he is married t

victor cha, a professor of drawers and university.course, jack pritchard, the president of the trade economic institute. this format will be moderated issue, something recall into a spell at interviewing. unfortunately i am not as stylish as oprah, and i hope to make our guest right during the interview, but no budget ticket of a couple of questions for our panelists to address some of these important questions. and then we will open up the microphones all of you and have a couple of room and microphones in the audience. we would get questions from you to ask our panelists today. with that of going to kagan of. scott, victor, and jack. one of the biggest concerns about the death of kim jong-il, of course, the young age of his in his son, kim jong-un, and the short transition. what is your sense for this process? will we see a smooth transition, are you concerned that the next generation's leaders will unravel? , we start with you, jack. >> well, let me first start off by saying, some of the estimates that some may have been saying and

. >> one of the best people to talk to on matters of north korea, victor cha, thank you for joining usng. >> thank you. >>> new problems for newt gingrich. former speaker fighting back against new revelations that he flip-flopped on romneycare. cnn's mary snow has the latest. >> reporter: the 2006 signing of massachusetts health care law is a moment republican presidential hopefuls won't let rival mitt romney forget. some equate it with what they call obamacare, but five years ago, newt gingrich in a newsletter called it an exciting development, quote, saying the health care bill governor romney signed into law has tremendous potential to effect major change in the american health system. the "wall street journal" dug up the newsletter from gingrich's organization. the center for health transformation. the newt note raises concerns about the massachusetts plan and guess on to say, we agree entirely that governor romney and massachusetts legislatorleg that our goal should be 100% insurance coverage for all americans. fast forward to 2011. here's gingrich taking aim at romney's health ca

victor cha, korea chair at csis, a professor at georgetown university.nd, of course, jack pritchard, the president of the korean economic institute. today's format is going to be a moderated interview, something we call here at kei the corporate style interviewing. for chili i'm not as stylish as over and help to not make our guests cry during the interview. but i'm going to kick it off with a couple of questions for our panelists to address some of these important questions. they will open up the mic to all of you. will have a couple of rome and mics in the audience, and get questions from you. to address, to ask our panelists today. so with that i'm going to kick it off. so scott, victor and jack, one of the biggest concerns about the death of kim jong-il is of course the young age of his youngest son, kim jong-un, and a short period of transition. what is your sense for this transition process? will we see a smooth transition, or are you concerned that the next generation leadership will unravel? why don't we start with you, jack? >> thanks very much.

victor cha, the korea chair at csis, and a professor at georgetown university.nd of course, jack pritchard, president of the korea economic institute. today's format is going to be a moderated interview, something we call here the oprah-style of interviewing. unfortunately, i am not as stylish as oprah. and i hope to not make our guests cry during the interview. [laughter] i will kick off with a couple of questions, for our panelists to address some of these important questions. and then we will open up the microphones to all of you. we will have a couple of roaming mics in the audience and get questions from you to address, to ask our panelists today. with that, i am going to kick it off. scott, victor, and jack -- what are the biggest concerns about the death of kim jong il, the young age of his youngest son, kim jong un, and a short period of transition? what is your sense for this transition process? will we see a smooth transition or are you concerned that the next generation of leadership will unravel? why don't we start with you, jack? >> thank you very m