NK leader woos support with hands-on style

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

National

Tue, September 26, 2023 | 02:39

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NK leader woos support with hands-on style

Posted : 2012-02-02 19:05

Updated : 2012-02-02 19:05

North Korean ruler Kim Jong-un is offering something rarely seen from the nation’s top leaders as he rounds up support for his fledgling regime ― a sense of warmth.

New North Korean leader Kim Jongun greets students at the Mangyongdae Revolutionary School in Pyongyang in this undated photo released by the North’s state media on Jan. 25.

/ AP-Yonhap

By Kim Young-jin

North Korean ruler Kim Jong-un is offering something rarely seen from the nation’s top leaders as he rounds up support for his fledgling regime ― a sense of warmth.

From gently clasping a boy’s cheeks while meeting students to linking arms with officials during on-site visits, analysts say the youngest son of late head of state Kim Jong-il has been aiming to project a confident, caring image.

“These gestures aim to gain popularity at a grassroots level,” Park Young-ho, an analyst with the Korea Institute for National Unification said. “He’s showing he wants to be involved and create a sense of closeness.”

Like his father before him, Jong-un appears to be using on-site inspections to demonstrate his leadership while bolstering the personality cult around the ruling family. Experts say such efforts are important as Pyongyang installs the young man, thought to be in his late twenties, as leader.

His behavior stands in stark contrast to that of his father, who wore sunglasses during the visits and observers said appeared distant especially in his later years.

Local media have dubbed the new leadership style as “skinship.”

On his 14 site inspections in January, mostly to military locations, Jong-un flashed huge grins and pulled officials in close for private talks or hugs. When he visited the Western Area Aviation Club, two of its parachutists tightly clutched his arms for a photo opportunity. He has extended the gestures to women as well as men.

Some of the more memorable images came via a state documentary that showed him with cheering students at the Mangyongdae Revolutionary School, taking one of their faces in his hands and sampling food at their cafeteria.

At military sites, state media say he inquires about soldiers’ welfare, including whether they are warm enough and get enough to eat.
Pyongyang’s propaganda machine is even referring to Kim as “father” as it seeks to underscore his role as a provider, according to reports.

Many believe Jong-un’s gestures are meant to emulate those of his grandfather, country founder Kim Il-sung. Defectors say the patriarch is still revered in the North while Kim Jong-il’s reputation suffered due to the famine and economic collapse he oversaw.

Analysts have also noted the similarity of Jong-un’s mannerisms and gait to that of his grandfather, with whom he also shares the same swept-back hairstyle and protruding belly. Rumors abound that he underwent plastic surgery to resemble the country’s founder.

Defectors with lines into the North say some citizens question the back-to-back hereditary succession, suggesting the new leader has his work cut out for him as he builds support.

The caring image coincides with reports that the North has steadily increased its daily food rations to the people over the last year with the amount jumping to 395 grams from 150 last June. Such improvements, attributed to better harvests, may help build confidence in the regime, which has promised to emerge this year as “strong and prosperous,” experts say.

Meanwhile, Kim’s frequent visits to military sites are seen as highlighting his need to maintain the support of the country’s powerful armed forces.
Park said it remained difficult to predict what would become of Kim’s overtures to the public.

“It could be a strategy. Or it could be a new leadership style to ‘get into’ the lives of ordinary people,” he said.

yjk@koreatimes.co.kr