North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (C) tours a precision machine factory in Pyongyang. North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency reported it on Jan. 16, 2015, without saying when the visit was made. (KCNA-Yonhap)
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is shown in the left circle while taking a photo at a precision machine factory in Pyongyang. Kim’s younger sister, Yo-jong, is seen in the right circle. North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency reported it on Jan. 16, 2015, without saying when the visit was made. (KCNA-Yonhap)
It appears that Kim Jong-un is having some eyebrow challenges:
From left to right: Kim Jong Un’s New Year’s Day speeches on Jan. 1, 2015, Jan. 1, 2014, and Jan. 1, 2013. (Photos by Reuters/Kyodo/KCNA)
Forget Sony Pictures: Now it’s Kim Jong Un’s eyebrows that have been hacked.
In a piece titled “Brow you see them,” the South China Morning Post noted North Korea’s Supreme Leader appeared at a New Year’s Day speech sans what scientists call supercilium.
“In what appeared to be a case of severe over-plucking, Kim’s brows appeared to be significantly shorter than on earlier occasions, sitting above his eyes like little dashes,” the paper wrote. [Washington Post via a reader tip]
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un tours a greenhouse at a military farm growing vegetables. North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency reported it on Dec. 26, 2014, without elaborating on the venue or timing of the visit. (Yonhap)
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un observes the North Korean military’s winter training in a photo released by the North’s media on Dec. 5, 2014. (No sale outside of South Korea) (KCNA-Yonhap)
It looks like Kim Jong-un may still be having problems with his feet:
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is experiencing a relapse of his recent health problems, South Korean government officials said Monday.
According to the Ministry of Unification, Kim was limping severely in a video clip recently aired by the state-run Korean Central TV. He was limping particularly painfully at an event with female pilots that took place at the end of last month. The Rodong Shinmun, the Workers’ Party’s newspaper, reported Kim’s visit to the air base on Nov. 28 with photos, but no video was aired until Sunday afternoon.
The 30-year-old ruler of the North developed problems with his leg last spring. After his condition deteriorated, he withdrew from public activities for 40 days.
South Korean intelligence authorities have confirmed that Kim received ankle surgery by visiting French, Chinese and Russian doctors. The sources said there was a high possibility of a relapse after Kim quickly resumed his public activities.
Meanwhile, intelligence officials said Kim Yo-jong, the 25-year-old younger sister of the North’s ruler, has quickly risen in Pyongyang’s inner circle, possibly being groomed to succeed her brother in case of an emergency.
At the end of last month, Pyongyang revealed that she is a deputy director of the Workers’ Party’s Central Committee. It was the first time the North revealed her official title in a media report, although it did not say which department of the party she belongs to.
She is the youngest deputy director of the Workers’ Party in the history of North Korea. Her father Kim Jong-il became the deputy director of the Propaganda and Agitation Department in 1970 when he was 28. Her once-powerful aunt Kim Kyong-hui became the deputy director of the International Department when she was 30.
North Korea observers note that it took only three years for the youngest daughter of Kim Jong-il, who shed tears at her father’s funeral, to rise to a powerful position in Pyongyang’s leadership. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
You can read more at the link, but it would probably be tough for all the long term leadership and military generals to accept such a young female leader even if she is part of the Kim family. It would be interesting to see how this would play out if something did happen to Kim Jong-un.
This photo released by Rodong Sinmun on Dec. 5, 2014, shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visiting the North Korean military’s Unit 1313 to inspect its winter training. (Yonhap)
For people in North Korea that were unlucky enough to be named “Jong-un” when they were born, they now have to change their name:
North Korea has ordered its people not to use the name “Kim Jong-un” in a bid to protect the supreme authority of the current leader, according to Pyongyang’s official document confirmed Wednesday.
In January 2011, then leader Kim Jong-il issued a decree urging people with the same name to change it “voluntarily.” As North Korea is regarded as a totalitarian state, it is unclear whether the decree was actually voluntary.
The North has also prohibited parents from registering their newborn babies with the current leader’s name, according to the document titled “a task to achieve.” The use of the given name “Jong-un” is also banned.
While unthinkable in most other countries, the rules are not new in the state long ruled by the Kim family. [Yonhap]
