Summary: Psychological assessment of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, leadership style implications of Kim’s personality profile, and North Korea threat assessment with respect to U.S. national security.

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Summary: North Korea celebrated the 65th anniversary of the ruling Workers’ Party founded by “Great Leader” Kim Il-sung and anointed “Young General” Kim Jong-un as “Dear Leader” Kim Jong-il’s successor. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on October 11, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that Iraqis took to the streets in parts of Iraq to demand open elections and improved public services, revealing growing discontent among Iraqis.

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Summary: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is claiming that Iran has produced its first batch of uranium enriched to a higher level of 20 percent, saying his country will not be bullied by the West into curtailing its nuclear program a day after the U.S. imposed new sanctions. … Psychological evaluation of Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, with personality profile and threat assessment, by Aubrey Immelman of the Unit for the Study of Personality in Politics. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on February 11, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that a U.S. spy satellite had captured an image of preparations at a North Korean missile site previously used for Taepodong-2 missile launch operations and that 19 people were killed in Taliban suicide attacks on Afghan government sites in Kabul.

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Summary: Analysts believe the nuclear threat from North Korea and Iran is worse today than it was a year ago. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on December 13, 2008, Aubrey Immelman reported that Ali al-Dabbagh, spokesman for the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, said Iraq would need a U.S. troop presence for 10 years to help build up its military forces, well past the agreed three-year deadline for the withdrawal of American soldiers under the U.S.-Iraq status-of-forces agreement negotiated by the Bush administration.

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Summary: Former U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), Distinguished Professor in the Practice of National Governance at Georgetown University, will deliver the Third Annual Eugene McCarthy Lecture on Wednesday, September 23, 2009 at 7:30 p.m. in the Stephen B. Humphrey Theater on the campus of St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minn. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the 14th day after losing his 2008 primary challenge against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman, in line with his focus on national security, reported on security incidents and U.S. military deaths in Iraq, a bombing in Afghanistan, and violence in Pakistan.

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Summary: On the same day that Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the Obama administration’s effort in the eight-year-old Afghanistan war is “only now beginning,” former U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) — a potential successor to Secretary Gates — published an op-ed article in the Washington Post in which he cautions, “No country today has the power to impose its will and values on other nations. … Bogging down large armies in historically complex, dangerous areas ends in disaster.” … One year ago today, on the 51st day of his campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann for the Republican nomination as House of Representatives candidate in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman released a video statement regarding the serious national security implications of the Iraq war, which Rep. Bachmann failed to address the previous evening in her speech at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul.

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Summary: Former U.S. President Bill Clinton made an unannounced visit to North Korea on a mission to win the release of jailed American reporters Laura Ling and Euna Lee, and to ease tensions over Pyongyang’s nuclear defiance. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the 20th day of his 2008 campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Sunday, August 3, 2008, Aubrey Immelman took a break from campaigning and posted, as a public service announcement to help draw attention to the sacrifice of National Guard citizen soldiers serving in Iraq and the families they leave behind, Part 1 of the Associated Press series, “The Longest Deployment” (the story of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division of the Minnesota National Guard and its tour of duty in Iraq).

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Summary: Former U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), Distinguished Professor in the Practice of National Governance at Georgetown University, will deliver the Third Annual Eugene McCarthy Lecture on Wednesday, September 23, 2009 at St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minn. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the 15th day of his campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann for the Republican nomination as House of Representatives candidate in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman reported on an op-ed article dealing with energy prices that he had written for the St. Cloud Times the previous day; met with Stearns County Sheriff John Sanner and Emergency Manager Marvin Klug; announced the release of a new web video in which he discusses his core campaign issues; and challenged unendorsed Independence Party candidate Bob Anderson’s justification for the Iraq war.

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Summary: North Korea is interested in holding direct talks with the United States, according to North Korean ambassador to the United Nations Sin Son Ho. … Psychological Profile of Kim Jong-Il. … One-year retrospective: On the 12th day of his 2008 campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman traveled to Minneapolis to tape an interview with Ken Avidor for The UpTake, focusing on his background, his reasons for running, and his core issues of national security, law enforcement/public safety, and border security/illegal immigration. In discussing national security, Immelman pointed to lost opportunities after 9/11, specifically “the ill-conceived invasion of Iraq, which turned a country that had been militarily contained and led by a dictator hostile to Iran and to Islamic fundamentalism … into a foreign policy nightmare that has consumed our domestic political agenda and squandered our finite resources for more than five years.” (Includes video of interview)

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Summary: North Korea has threatened a “fire shower of nuclear retaliation” if provoked by the U.S., but U.S. officials are downplaying any imminent threat to the United States of a North Korean missile strike or confrontation between the two countries at sea. … December 16, 2009 update: President Barack Obama has written a personal letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong Il as part of an intense effort to draw the reclusive nation back to nuclear disarmament talks.

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