South Korea

[Kim Jong Un] is so tightly guarded. But the more practical concern is the debasement of Kim's standing and legitimacy. His youth, lack of experience, lack of secure contacts and friendships with foreign leaders put him in a precarious position. He has to earn the respect and trust of the older military and Korean Worker’s Party leaders.

Kim Jong Il got plenty of buffoonery thrown at him – the hair, the shoes, the movies, the women, the weight. But he was the immediate heir to the 'Great Leader,' and he had decades to build up experience and political support. Kim [Jong Un] shows no sense of humor, no ease.

The Chinese have let anti-Kim and anti-North Korea expressions run free in China's cyberworld and to a lesser degree in print news. North Korea has recently lambasted China publicly, partly for the unofficial oil embargo and partly for dissing it by cozying it up with South Korean president Park Geun-hye. There's mutual distrust and frustration, if not hostility, between China and North Korea.

Staying quiet [about a movie that mocks Kim Jong Un] would be an act of cowardice and defeat – that ‘violating’ the sacredness of the Kim family and the leadership of the North Korean people is OK. That is not an option for [the Kim regime].

In any dictatorship, it’s dangerous to be someone the leader depends on to stay in power – it means that you can easily become a threat, as it appears that Jang [Song-Thaek] and the patronage system that he ran did.