Worship in North Korea

DAY

Kim Jong-un has just offered his daughter Kim Ju Ae to the adoration of the good people of North Korea. 

Yesterday, framed by her father and her mother, the 10-year-old girl sat at a grand banquet celebrating the 75th anniversary of the founding of the country's army.

Behind them, the most senior generals of the North Korean army, dressed in medals like Christmas trees, smile blissfully.

North Koreans say that adoration of Kim Jong-un and his family is part of North Korean identity and that they are proud of it.

Not to be could get them a bullet in the eye.

Family Flight

The national devotion of North Koreans would only be ridiculous if it did not mask the theft that Kim Jong-un's family has been operating on North Korea since 1945. Since the Soviets placed this family in power, it has diverted to its benefits the entire economy of the country. She redistributes part of her loot to those who help her stay in power. Thus, about one million North Koreans, out of the 22 million who make up its population, live in relative comfort. The rest are very poor.

Cults of personality are difficult to maintain in the 21st century. People are more and more educated and they can grasp the ridiculousness of such cults.

Hence the almost total control of information by the North Korean government. For example, TV and radio sets are sealed. They can only receive broadcasts from North Korea. Any modification of these devices is punishable by imprisonment. 

The censorship and the fervor of the cult are not enough to ensure the docility of the population. We must also add a terror, which discourages any form of criticism.

•  Don't miss Loïc Tassé's column at the microphone of Benoit Dutrizac, every day on QUB radio:  

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The cult of Kim Jong-un is like this a cult of reference for all those who wish to build cults or make them more powerful.

Monstrous and disturbing

This is also what makes it dangerous, because like all cults, it can cultivate fanaticism in its followers.

There is something particularly monstrous and disturbing in seeing a ten-year-old girl dubbed in this way. 

One shudders at the thought of the sudden death of his father and his possible succession by a spoiled child who has no notion of adult life, but who would have nuclear warheads in her hands.

Of course, Kim Ju Ae would probably have a regent, possibly her mother, who until at his majority would rule the country. But that prospect is hardly more reassuring.

Some would argue that this is domestic politics and none of the business of non-Koreans. 

That's wrong. The internal politics of countries which have atomic weapons and whose leaders can, by a simple whim, start a world war is the concern of all human beings.

< img class="aligncenter" src="/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/51db9a7936c28bf02f84ea13501b3d38.jpg" alt="Worship in North Korea" />