Tag: Kim Jong-un

Picture of the Day: Kim Jong-un Attends Performance By Moranbong Band

| January 2, 2017

N.K.'s Kim appears for girl band show after 14 months

N.K. leader Kim Jong-un (4th from L) attends an art performance in Pyongyang for the participants of the conference of chairpersons of ruling party primary committees in this photo published by the North’s Korean Central News Agency on Dec. 29, 2016. It was Kim’s first appearance in 14 months to the performance by the Moranbong Band, an all girl band that he founded, who shared the stage with the State Merited Chorus. The Moranbong Band has been a source of interest for its lack for visibility, its last reported performance being in May this year. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

Kim Jong-un Reportedly Makes Military Leaders Write Apology Letters

| December 15, 2016

I am always careful to caveat these type of stories coming out of North Korea because there is no way to confirm whether they are true or not.  They could just be a random rumor that a newspaper editor saw an opportunity for a sensational headline to publish:

Kim Jong Un got drunk and ordered military leaders to write statements about their failures while visiting his summer villa, according to a Japanese press report published Tuesday. The punishment also required the military veterans to write an apology.

“That none of you were able to produce not even one military satellite is a misconduct that is commensurate to treason,” Kim allegedly told senior officials at the time. The veterans were required to stay up all night writing the letters, but when Kim found them in the morning, he was allegedly confused about why there were gathered at his vacation home. “Why are you gathered here?” Kim allegedly said, before adding: “Be careful about your health because you are all old.”

Some of the military leaders began crying, fearful that Kim would order their executions or forced deportations from North Korea, as he has done in the past to other North Korean leaders who were faced with his reportedly hot temper.  [International Business Times]

You can read more at the link.

Kim Jong-un Tells Troops At First Strike To “Wipe Out South Korea”

| December 5, 2016

Another week and another threat against South Korea from the Kim regime:

Kim Jong Un instructed North Korean troops to “wipe out South Korea” in the latest sign of aggression from North Korea’s supreme leader. Kim’s remarks came during a military border exercise this week as the United Nations Security Council adopted sanctions targeting Pyongyang’s coal exports.

“This is how we must forcefully respond to those South Koreans. At first strike we must completely break the will of those South Koreans and wipe them all out,” Kim said according state-controlled television network KCTV.

Kim spoke directly to a marine brigade and a frontline unit that has been tasked with fighting Seoul. The drills included the rapid firing of artillery and Kim was briefed on their training plan, UPI reported Friday.

The annual winter training exercise was held near a disputed maritime border in the Yellow Sea. North Korea state media said an island targeted during the training saw loud explosions and light that simulated “the enemy’s cities and military targets submerged in a sea of fire.”   [International Business Tribune]

You can read more at the link.

Kim Jong-un Reportedly Enjoying South Korean Political Scandal

| December 3, 2016

Kim Jong-un may be enjoying the political scandal going in South Korea, but I am willing to bet the people in North Korea are noticing in the images shown in the media how South Koreans are allowed to rally and protest their government and they cannot:

Now, North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong-Un can just sit back and watch as his counterpart President Park Geun-hye looks set to leave office under popular pressure. South Koreans have protested against Park for five straight weeks over her alleged involvement in an influence-peddling case, adding to spiking frustration with the nation’s history of political corruption.

“For North Korea’s leadership, the political instability [in South Korea] is excellent evidence for why its system and society are better than South Korea’s, supporting its position that North Korea is the one true, legitimate Korea,” Alison Evans, deputy head and senior Asia-Pacific analyst at IHS Markit, explained.

The two Koreas share language and family ties, but remain bitter enemies at the political level, having fought a three-year war to a stalemate in 1953. But they are currently experiencing a rare moment of unity in their common resentment towards Park.

Media outlets in both countries have lashed out against the head of state, with op-eds routinely referring to Park as a traitor and calling for her prosecution. Of course, North Korean media is entirely state-run, unlike the South.

“North Korean media has widely reported on the turmoil in South Korean politics to show how, unlike Kim Jong Un’s government, South Korea’s government does not listen to its people, particularly the workers’ unions,” Evans continued.  [CNBC]

You can read more at the link.