North Koreans wear Kim Jong Un pins as the supreme leader builds godlike personality – Washington Examiner
The article from the Washington Examiner discusses the sightings of North Korean officials wearing pins depicting their leader, Kim Jong Un, on their lapels. This echoes the cults of personality created by Kim’s father and grandfather. The pins symbolize Kim’s authority and separate him from his ancestors. The article also highlights the promotion of the ideology of “sacred” heads of state in North Korea, and how Kim Jong Un is seeking ways to strengthen his leadership amid economic challenges and international sanctions. To read more, visit the Washington Examiner’s website.
North Koreans seen wearing pins of Kim Jong Un
Pins depicting Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un have reportedly been spotted on the lapels of North Korean officials, echoing the maneuvers taken by Kim’s father and grandfather in creating their cults of personality.
In photos released Sunday by state media, Workers’ Party officials attending the 10th Plenary Meeting of the 8th Central Committee can be seen wearing Kim’s likeness across their hearts. For years, North Koreans have been forced to wear red, flag-shaped pins displaying the portraits of Kim Jong Il or Kim Il Sung. These pins now portray the current leader for the first time, in a move meant to elevate and separate Kim’s authority from that of his father and grandfather.
The ideology of the Workers’ Party, known as Juche, heavily promotes the idea of “sacred” heads of state. In 1998 and 2012, the North Korean constitution established Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il as the two “eternal leaders of North Korea” following their respective deaths. Towering bronze statues of the two men guard the entrances to state buildings, and their portraits hang from every home and office in the nation. Kim Jong Il’s and Kim Il Sung’s birthdays, falling on Feb. 16 and April 15, respectively, were traditionally two of the year’s largest celebrations.
As North Korea’s economy stumbles in the wake of repeated United Nations sanctions and a severe mismanagement of the pandemic and agriculture, Kim Jong Un has sought ways to bolster his leadership. This recent display of pins is just one of the many steps Kim Jong Un has taken to establish a divine status distinct from his ancestors.
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In January, Kim Jong Un announced he would no longer explore a peaceful unification with South Korea, something previous generations had long said they hoped for. In May, Kim Jong Un’s portrait was hung beside Kim Jong Il and Kim Il Sung at a newly built Workers’ Party training camp. The country has even neglected celebrations of Kim Jong Un’s grandfather’s birthday, reportedly no longer referring to it by its traditional name, “the Day of the Sun.”
“The latest series of efforts to idolize Kim Jong Un is assessed as a move to dilute his predecessors while establishing his authority as a [unique] leader,” said Kim Inae, a deputy spokeswoman for South Korea’s Unification Ministry, on Monday.
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