POLITICS: Portraits of North Korean Leader Kim Jong-il Removed From Public View

Portraits of a leader, always prominent in Stalinist dictatorships like North Korea serve to remind the population who is in charge. It appears that just who may be charge could be in question with the recently reported removal of portraits of Kim Jong-il. The portraits of his father Kim Il-sung the founder of the North Korean state remain.



The removal of Kim Jong-il's portraits could signify a leadership change such as a coup in the making or that he has died or met some other end. In a country as secretive as North Korea even a small event such as this may presage larger changes on the way.

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WOW, this could be a highly significant event. I would not think Kim would have removed his portraits voluntarily.
If there has been a change in leadership, it could be a new beginning for the Korean peoples.

maybe he is toying with us and is putting up new photo's

Either that or he don't want to be recognized in anticipation of a possible attack. There are some things one can learn from the Bin Laden experience.

Maybe it's just a make-over by "Queer eye for the North Korean Guy"

Sanc'.

he don't want to be recognized

I doubt that. He is so well known in NK, removing his pictures would only protect him from assasinators without any memory.
Plus he has lot�s of doubles. There are in fact so many doubles, he could have died 20 years ago and nobody would have noticed.

Perhaps the military finally stopped supporting this dangerous psychopath. From the stuff I�ve read indicates he has always been �riding the tiger� that is the Korean Military. Maybe the generals really thought he was going to start a nuclear war on the peninsula and knew it was suicide.

Methinks this could be a big deal�perhaps a 2nd �Axis of Evil� is about to fall.

Originally posted by sanctum
Maybe it's just a make-over by "Queer eye for the North Korean Guy"

You get 2 funny points for that.

My first thought was . o O (they must have new photos to put up) or the guy got less rediculous glasses. Wouldn't he look more powerful with those little Lennon-like glasses with the thin wire frames?

Perhaps they are going to put Bush's picture up when he decides to take over that country, too.

Were the old ones being defaced?

A change in leadership could be good or bad. We'll have to wait and see....

Maybe the regime is trying to give a more moderate appearance, and tone down some of the totalerism(sp). They might be thinking that if they appear to be less restrictive they could gain some brownie points in the much anticipated multi-lateral talks on their nuclear ambitions.

I am having trouble believing that there might be change in the winds there in North Korea. I would love to be wrong about it though.

Considering that every residence must display a picture of Dear Leader and failure to do so earns the family a one way trip to the gulag, I believe this to be tremendously important. (apparently so do the Chinese)

The cult of the Kims is integral to NK, indeed it IS NK. This is most interesting.

I'd love to see Bush's portrait up in North Korea. I only hope we go there next and liberate the opressed Koreans as well.

"The United States of Koraq." Nice ring!

This is some thought provoking news, indeed. What does China have to say about it? What are we saying about it?

Zip

Originally posted by deevee
Considering that every residence must display a picture of Dear Leader and failure to do so earns the family a one way trip to the gulag, I believe this to be tremendously important. (apparently so do the Chinese)

The cult of the Kims is integral to NK, indeed it IS NK. This is most interesting.

Could be a move to subsidize the portrait industry Whoever is next in charge will need millions of pictures for residences to hang.

On a serious note, with the cabinet rollovers going on in our own country, the death of Arafat, the heightened tensions between China & Taiwan, a leadership change anywhere in the world might make bigger ripples than we are aware of at first impression.

Keep us posted...
Saerlaith

Perhaps it has something to do with the death of his favourite consort, which he is supposedly taking very hard. He may stepped down in favour of his son, or a new portrait is commissioned one which commemorates her with him. If it was a change of power against him, his father's portraits would likely be gone also.

Originally posted by SomewhereinBetween
If it was a change of power against him, his father's portraits would likely be gone also.

Not necessarily. Kim Sung-il has been deified and named Eternal Leader in the country's constitution. Lil Kim hasn't been immortalized. The prudent coupster would leave Kim Sr.'s legacy and continue to rule in his divine name.

what if kim is dead? he was getting up in the years. wonder what will happen next.

I would view this as a potentially very serious happening. These are not small, insignificant events in dictatorships. Public image is everything. It usually signals a change in leadership.

There are reports (mainly rumors) of a power struggle; this is from two days ago:

The Australian

HARDLINERS have tightened their political grip on North Korea while Kim Jong-il, the Stalinist state's dictator, has retreated into virtual seclusion after the death of his favourite consort from cancer.

As Japanese envoys tried to persuade the North Koreans last week to rejoin multinational talks, Mr Kim's absence from the scene led to speculation a debilitating power struggle might have paralysed the ruling group.

This followed the death of Koh Young-hee, a dancer who had provided Mr Kim with an heir-apparent to the world's only communist dynasty.

"The loss of this woman was a blow," said a foreign diplomat.

The South Korean press is speculating along the same lines:

The Dong-A Llbo
�Opinions like �unsound health,� that Chairman Kim recently got an operation, and an �internal conflict for power� are spreading, but none has been confirmed.�

North Korean officials are apparently denying the pictures have been removed:

Interfax

A North Korean diplomatic source in Beijing has denied reports that Pyongyang has launched a campaign to remove portraits of the country's leader, Kim Chong-il.

"This is not true, and everything remains the same in Pyongyang," the source told Interfax on Tuesday.

The North Korean Embassy in Beijing "noticed such reports by certain media outlets," which could be provoked by "a state reception to mark the establishment of diplomatic relations between the USSR and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea," the source said.

I tried to find the Itar-Tass report that seems to be the basis for the reports on their english page but I couldn't find it.

Curious that he used the phrase "USSR." That's communist. The whole "50 year disinformation campaign" of communism is looking more and more realistic with every news report that's come out about Russia in the past year.

Zip

Kim's portraits removed upon instruction from North Korean government

Foreign observers in the North Korean capital believe Kim�s portraits were removed in order to dispel the worldwide spread opinion that North Korea has 'personality cult' of its leader. The observers thus downplayed rumors of �a plot of the military,� �Kim Jong Il�s illness,� �preparations to the change of power� etc.

The North Korean leader is completely healthy and remains in power, which has been confirmed by reports in local media about Kim Jong Il�s visit to a military unit.

and...

"It's false information," a North Korean diplomat emphasized, "you cannot remove the sun from the sky, it's impossible."

www.itar-tass.com...

If North Korea wasn't such a dangerous and unpredictable dictatorship, this would be a laugh.

Sanc'.