The similar attributes of Menelaus and Kim Jong-un

I spent my spare time in this last week typing in the notes section of my iPhone all of the similarities between Menelaus and Kim Jong-un. I was astonished to find a wealth of material in front of me by the end of the week despite the differences of culture, historical period, and temperament. Read on…

For those of you who are a little unfamiliar with Menelaus, he is the whiniest cuckold in all of literature. King of Mycenae, he marries the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen. All is well until a royal guest from Troy, Paris, steals her away to his hometown in a torrid love affair.

Menelaus could have used normal means of revenge: cut off trade with Troy, kill any Trojan that ever set foot on his shores, or let it go and enjoy a pleasant life with a myriad of concubines. Instead he chose to cash in all of his favor chips around Greece, raise an enormous army, travel across the sea, and spend a decade attacking Troy eventually slaughtering or enslaving all of its citizens, and burning the city.

Kim Jong -un is a new leader of an insular nation that was handed the reigns to a nuclear arsenal at a tender age. He is living with the laundry list of perceived and real wrongs perpetrated on his country by the rest of the world and the personality cult legacy left to him by his dad and grandpappy. From the cradle he was taught that every action that South Korea, Japan, and the USA takes revolves around their interaction with North Korea. Their one undying wish is to take over his government.

Commonality #1: Both see the perceived wrong as a threat to their manhood and therefore to their leadership

Both Menelaus and Kim are dealing with difficult situations. Should Kim improve relations and get food for his people or hold on to the fledgling nuclear arsenal? That is a very serious problem. Add to it that Kim’s own people are reportedly skeptical of his reign and one can see the threat to his leadership and manhood. Kim must be seen as the war leader and not the bratty spoiled son-of-a-dictator.

Menelaus in a much more visceral sense has had his manhood shamed by the flagrant affair of his wife. A King that cannot keep his Queen is weak.

Commonality #2: Both Menelaus and Kim strategically escalate the situation 

When Menelaus found his wife ran off he didn’t manically rush alone to the shores of Troy and beat the gates of the city demanding her return. He took a breath, considered his resources, and made preparations. Knowing the might of Troy, Menelaus was sure he would not be able to force Helen’s return by himself. He therefore called on The Oath of Tyndareus that bound all of Helen’s suitors (all of the Greek leaders) to defend the honor of the man who won her hand: as it turned out that man was Menelaus. Helen’s father Tyndareus had the oath struck because he feared that the Greek leaders would go to war over who would marry her. Menelaus essentially called the other Greek leaders  honor into question by demanding they go with him into battle because of the complex WWI style alliance system that had been sworn. Once the Greek leaders agreed to keep their oath and swore they would regain Helen, he sailed to Troy to fight and win her back.

And those that dwelt in Lacedaemon, lying low among the hills, Pharis, Sparta, with Messe the haunt of doves; Bryseae, Augeae, Amyclae, and Helos upon the sea; Laas, moreover, and Oetylus; these were led by Menelaus of the loud battle-cry, brother to Agamemnon, and of them there were sixty ships, drawn up apart from the others. Among them went Menelaus himself, strong in zeal, urging his men to fight; for he longed to avenge the toil and sorrow that he had suffered for the sake of Helen. ~The Iliad

Menelaus faced dissenting voices in his commanders upon realizing the vastness of the undertaking and steepness of the price that Helen’s return would exact.

Achilles: 

“But why must the Argives fight the Trojans? Why did Atreus’ son assemble and bring us? Wasn’t it for Helen’s sake? Are Atreus’ sons the only men who love their wives?” ~The Iliad

Note: The sons of Atreus are Menelaus and Agamemnon.

Kim Jong-Un in similar style was so angry that more sanctions had been imposed on his country after he held a nuclear test that he threatened the US with a preemptive nuclear attack. Maps appeared showing where he would strike (Texas?) and missiles were moved to the North Korean coast.  He also closed the North-South factory, rejected the armistice, and found fresh ways to saber rattle each day. We all remember the “merciless” nuclear strikes threat.

Is that an iMac?

Unfortunately for Kim, these moves weren’t met with the usual panaceas from his enemies. Patriot missiles were moved to defend Tokyo and Guam and the US promised its allies that it would defend them…hard. Kim would have been able to send a “Hail Mary” missile at the US (if indeed that was what he was planning) but the risks far outweighed the benefits. Although this author is sure Kim wants to attack his perceived enemies, it is clear that this moment in history is poor timing. Kim is going to wait and build a better arsenal that has a better chance of piercing enemy defenses. If he had attacked now, that would probably have been the end of the North Korean regime.

Commonality #3: Both have poor reasons for war

Helen was a terrible reason to go to war. Ask any female that knew her. She wasn’t liked by the Trojan women and my suspicion is that she wasn’t well liked by the women in Menelaus’s home. If a woman doesn’t have female friends, there is usually a reason. The spoils of war and slaves were benefits of the conquest of Troy, but the returned Helen (who has visible tension with her husband after being returned recorded in Greek plays) was not one of them. To be fair, Troy should have shipped Helen back the minute she arrived.

Kim Jong-un also doesn’t have a particularly good reason to go to war. The official reason is that the sovereign state of North Korea has the right to nuclear weapons. The rest of the world has rejected that premise and imposed sanctions that are squeezing Kim’s economy. Clearly unable to wage an all-out war on all of the countries imposing sanctions on his country, and much more unlikely to get to trade successfully with them if he did so, it appeared Kim was going to sacrifice his country in order to land a couple nukes to get revenge. The obvious path he could take is renounce nuclear weapons, open trade, and  enjoy capitalism and he did make moves to modernize his economy in August of 2012. It is unclear if his regime would survive these changes.

One of the constant claims of North Korea is that the war games of South Korea and its allies are acts of war. A clearly rejected premise with the best kind of proof, we never attacked them after the armistice and beefed up efforts to protect only after the North threatened preemptive nuclear attacks.

Commonality #4: Menelaus and Kim Jong-un do not value human dignity

In their high-level war games for honor and power, both leaders show a clear disregard for individual human dignity and worth. Murdering and raping the inhabitants of Troy because one man ran away with his wife, Menelaus shows his disregard for who those people were, the lives they were building, and the price of what he took from them. Kim’s need to hold onto his regime has led him to similar realms by keeping up the North Korean gulags and terrifying innocent people with nuclear war.

Menelaus lived in the time before “all men are created equal” but Kim is living centuries after that line was written and has less excuse to ignore it. At least in the West, respecting the right to life of fellow humans is one of the highest values. I wish it had rubbed off on Kim during his time abroad. Maybe Michael Jordan (Kim’s reported idol) can send Kim a letter about it.