North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (R) and his wife, Ri Sol-ju, watch an air combat training competition held by the Korean People’s Air Force and Defense in this photo released on Dec. 4, 2016. It is the first time in nine months the North Korean first lady has appeared in public. (Yonhap)
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.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un pays tribute to the late Cuban leader Fidel Castro at the Cuban Embassy in Pyongyang on Nov. 28, 2016, in this photo released by the North’s ruling party organ Rodong Sinmun the next day. (Yonhap)
This combined image, provided by North Korea’s ruling party organ Rodong Sinmun on Nov. 28, 2016, shows its leader Kim Jong-un and other senior officials paying tribute to the statue of his later father Kim Jong-il during a visit to Samjiyon County at the southeastern foot of the 2,750-meter-high Mount Paektu, the highest peak on the Korean Peninsula. North Korea publicizes the county as the birthplace of the late leader. (Yonhap)
It is pretty ironic that North Korea is making this request at the same time they are promoting their obesity cure:
North Korea has made a state request to officials in China pleading for them to stop referring to ‘glorious leader’ Kim Jong-un as fat.
Ministers have reportedly asked their neighbours to refrain from referring to the chunky Swiss cheese fan as Jin San Pang or ‘Kim Fatty III’ in media or conversations.
Apparently ‘Kim Fatty III’ is a widely used nickname for Kim in China along with Jin Pang Pang (Kim Fat Fatty) or Jin San Fei (Kim Abundant III).
Now According to the Apple Daily in Hong Kong, terrified North Korean government officials have called on their old comrades to take action before heads roll. [FOX News]
You can read more at the link.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (C) smiles during his inspection of an artillery unit of the Korean People’s Army on Mahap Islet near the western sea border with South Korea, in this photo released by the Rodong Sinmun, the North’s ruling party organ, on Nov. 11, 2016. The paper didn’t say when he visited the unit. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)
This sounds just like the campaign to end smoking in North Korea where Kim Jong-un is still seen going around smoking cigarettes despite the campaign:
Kim Jong Un called for an end to the worship of imports, calling the popular preference for foreign-made goods a “disease” that must be eradicated.
The North Korean leader, known for his fondness of French wine, Swiss watches and British fabrics, made the statement at the seventh assembly of the General Federation of Trade Unions of Korea on Tuesday, in a letter titled “The contemporary mission of the working class of Kim Il Sung–Kim Jong Il“, state-controlled news agency KCNA reported Thursday, local time.
GFTUK is the sole legal trade union federation in North Korea formed on November 30, 1945.
In the letter Kim said North Korean workers must “uphold the honor of the fatherland and the know-how of the people, and with pride and courage make with their own hands products better than [other countries], thereby eradicating the disease of imports.” [UPI]
You can read more at the link.
Priorities, priorities. Kim Jong Un visits souvenir factory while avoiding flood-hit North Korea region. https://t.co/i4w4dMznNz
— Elizabeth Shim (@GlobalAsianista) October 7, 2016
It appears the ROK has put a lot of thought into killing Kim Jong-un if war was to break out:
South Korea’s defense ministry is planning a special force that could remove Kim Jong Un from power.
Defense Minister Han Min-koo also said Seoul needs to maintain the number of full-time troops at 500,000 or more if it is to resist an armed North Korean invasion, South Korean news network YTN reported Wednesday.
Han told lawmakers at South Korea’s National Assembly there is “a plan” to assemble a unit that could target the North Korean leadership, referring to a plan known as the Korea Massive Punishment and Retaliation, or KMPR, local news service News 1 reported.
“If it becomes clear the enemy intends to use nuclear-tipped missiles, in order to suppress its aims, the concept [of the special forces] is to retaliate against key areas that include the North Korean leadership,” Han said Wednesday.
KMPR is part of a “three-axis system” in South Korea’s military that includes Seoul’s homegrown anti-missile systems, the Korean Air and Missile Defense, or KAMD, and Kill Chain, a pre-emptive strike system. [UPI]
You can read more at the link.
Wistful Kim Jong-Un Stumbles Onto Childhood Drawings He Made Of Nuclear Attacks On West https://t.co/Picv4UbesN via @TheOnion
— Sokeel Park 박석길 (@Sokeel) September 13, 2016
