North Korea: The Hermit Kingdom

Dan Rather Gets A Rare Glimpse Of The Secretive Nation

(CBS)  General Ri wouldn't show us any of his missiles and we didn't get a chance to see the underground arsenals we had read about. He was happy to show us his troops at the border with South Korea. They stand there rain or shine and they've been strutting their stuff for more than 50 years.

That's because the Korean War ended in 1953 with a cease-fire, not a peace treaty. Some 700,000 North Korean soldiers are said to be still clustered near the border. There are 30,000 American forces on the other side.

The general said they've stepped up military and propaganda exercises recently. He said it's because of what he calls the "neo-conservatives in the Bush Administration."

"These are people who want to dominate the world, just like the Nazis of Germany. After striking Iraq, they want North Korea," General Ri said.

The State Department declined to talk to 60 Minutes about North Korea. In negotiations involving six countries, the Bush administration says North Korea must give up its nuclear weapons.

The chief North Korean negotiator, Kim Gye-Gwan, indicated to us in Pyonyang that a deal is possible.

"We have the opportunity to secure a system for stopping the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. I think this kind of opportunity will not come again," Kim said, through a translator.

Maybe not, but negotiations have bogged down in recent weeks. And Kim is not optimistic.

"Under current conditions, where there is no trust, how can we give up our weapons first?" Kim asked.

In the North Korean view, disarming unilaterally would amount to surrender, and they say surrender has never been part of the vocabulary. It's a unique vocabulary, one invented by a man, known - both simply and grandiosely - as the Great Leader, Kim Il Sung.

In Pyongyang, a colossal 70-foot statue of Kim Il Sung towers in front of the Korean Revolutionary Museum.

Kim Il Sung is the father of the present leader of North Korea and the statue symbolizes how reverence for him, his influence and his power permeates the whole society 11 years after his death. He is still referred to as the generalissimo, the Great Leader, the Father Leader and often just the Father.

In the capital city's main square, we could find just one picture of Karl Marx, and only one of Lenin. But there are pictures of the Great Leader all over the city.

He led the fight against the Americans and, before them, the Japanese. He became a cult figure and was treated like a God after his death.

When Kim Il Sung died, his son, Kim Jong Il, took control. He?s not as popular as his father, but we noted the crowd?s adulation when he showed up to review the troops.

Whether because of fear or true devotion, North Koreans can't seem to get enough of him. He struck us as shorter and a little paunchier than his father. Despite his policies toward America, we learned he's said to love western food and American culture, especially movies and the Internet - things he denies his own people.

"There is no leader in the world like our Great Leader, who tries his best to take care of his people," Kim said.

And he always uses the personal touch. When we visited the Maternity Hospital, for example, what we kept hearing was that Kim Jong Il, not the government, built the facility. Red seals placed on incubators meant they were personal gifts from the Great Leader himself. Our guides never used the word God to describe him, but at the Revolutionary Museum, they told us that Kim Jong Il is very close to being the source of life itself.