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Mon, June 27, 2022 | 03:05
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Was NK 1st lady porn star?
北 리설주 24일만에 등장…건물 준공식 참석
Posted : 2013-10-10 16:57
Updated : 2013-10-10 16:57
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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un speaks as his wife Ri Sol-ju looks on during a ceremony to mark the completion of houses built for professors in Pyongyang, Wednesday. Ri made her first public appearance since Sept. 15. Yonhap
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un speaks as his wife Ri Sol-ju looks on during a ceremony to mark the completion of houses built for professors in Pyongyang, Wednesday. Ri made her first public appearance since Sept. 15. Yonhap


By Kang Seung-woo

If Ri Sol-ju were not North Korea's first lady, one report would not have attracted as much attention as it has.

In a normal country, rumor-level reports would be dismissed or confirmed. But it took three weeks to put an end to speculation that she was involved in a pornography scheme.

The answer to weeks of such reports came in the form of one photo in which she appeared together with her husband North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

What was intriguing was the background against which she disappeared from public view as well as the angry reaction by the North Korean media to reports insinuating its first lady was a porn star. To trump them all, nobody can know for sure the truth about the original report and what the latest photo of the couple laughing together says about it.

The head of the South's spy agency recently confirmed that a porn CD making ring was caught and executed in the North but failed to say it was connected to Ri.

Defectors and North Korea watchers predict that Ri's involvement may never be confirmed for sure.

Amid growing rumors over porn videos involving Ri, she made her first public appearance Wednesday after a nearly one-month absence in what seemed to be an apparent attempt to squash the speculation, Pyongyang watchers said Thursday.

The state-run Korean Central Television (KCTV) showed Ri attending a ceremony marking the completion of houses for professors in Pyongyang, along with Kim.

Her public appearance is the first since she was last seen on Sept. 15 on a visit to a stadium to watch an Asian judo competition.

While she was out of the public eye, Japan's Asahi Shimbun reported last month that some members of the North's Unhasu Orchestra and an art troupe were executed for making pornography and that the execution was designed to cover up Ri's involvement. Before marrying Kim in 2012, she was a singer with the orchestra.

Nam Jae-joon, chief of the National Intelligence Service (NIS), told lawmakers on Tuesday that those who know the truth were killed in order to put a lid on any embarrassing incident that could undermine Kim's leadership, hinting Ri's absence may have been to do with the scandal.

However, Nam added that while he knew people were executed, he could not verify if they were connected in any way to Ri.

"Ri's reappearance was already expected because if she didn't show up until the Party Foundation Day (on Oct. 10), the scandalous speculation could travel far and wide both inside and outside North Korea," said Cheong Seong-chang, a senior fellow at the Sejong Institute.

"The appearance is seen as the North trying to quell speculation over its first lady."

While it is impossible to confirm or deny the speculation, which emerged out of the alleged execution of the members of the orchestra, a North Korean defector said that pornography involving its members was not out of the question.

"When I was in North Korea, the Unhasu Orchestra was not widely known to people," said the defector, who arrived in South Korea in 2008.

"At that time, they were secretly regarded as Kim Jong-il's (so-called) Pleasure Brigade."

The brigade is a troupe of attractive young women whose function was to help Kim and his officials "relax."

In addition, the spread of porn videos was viral in the North in the early to mid-2000s, the defector said.

"Until 2007, there were no barbed wire fences on the border in Hoeryong, North Hamgyeong Province, so there were many smugglers and North Korean people had easy access to such videos," she said.

However, there were negative comments as to whether the scandal involved Ri.

"As the NIS chief said, there seems to be little chance to confirm Ri's involvement," Cheong said.

He added that Hyon Song-wol, Kim Jong-un's ex-girlfriend, was shot to death for taking part in the alleged pornography according to media outlets, and this was confirmed.

The government is cautious about confirming whether something happened to Ri just because she stayed out of the public eye on a few occasions.


北 리설주 24일만에 등장…건물 준공식 참석

'추문 잠재우기' 시도인 듯

 

북한 김정은 국방위원회 제1위원장의 부인 리설주가 9일 김일성종합대학 교육자 살림집(주택) 준공식에 참석해 오랜만에 모습을 드러냈다.

리설주가 공개석상에 나온 것은 지난달 15일 김 제1위원장과 함께 2013 아시안컵 및 아시아클럽 역도선수권대회를 관람한 이후 24일 만이다.

조선중앙TV는 이날 준공식 소식을 전하면서 행사에 참석한 김 제1위원장과 리설주의 모습을 방영했다.

옅은 하늘색 정장 차림의 리설주는 준공식이 진행되는 동안 강한 햇살에 살짝 얼굴을 찌푸리기도 했지만 대체로 밝은 표정이었고 머리 모양도 지난달 초 짧게 올려친 모습 그대로였다.

중앙TV는 김 제1위원장 부부가 살림집 내부를 둘러보는 모습도 보여줬다. 리설주는 직접 싱크대 수도를 틀어 물이 잘 나오는지 보거나 찻잔을 정리하기도 했으며 김 제1위원장이 동행자들과 말할 때는 웃음을 짓는 자연스러운 모습도 연출했다.

김 제1위원장 부부는 살림집에 입주할 교원 등과 기념사진도 찍었다.

리설주가 오랜만에 공개석상에 등장한 것은 일부 언론이 제기한 추문을 잠재우려는 것이라는 관측이 나온다.

일본 아사히 신문은 지난달 21일 음란 동영상을 제작한 은하수관현악단과 왕재산예술단 일부 단원들이 공개 처형됐으며 이는 이들의 추문에 리설주가 연루된 것을 덮으려는 것이라고 보도했다.

리설주가 최근 공개석상에 나타나지 않는 것도 이 때문일 것이라는 의혹이 제기됐다.

중앙TV와 대외용 라디오 방송은 평양방송은 이날 은하수관현악단이 부른 '조국찬가'를 내보냈다.

리설주와 은하수관현악단이 동시에 북한 매체에 등장한 것은 북한이 공식 매체를 통해 추문 보도를 비난하는 데 그치지 않고 보다 적극적으로 추문 차단에 나섰음을 보여주는 것으로 분석된다.

한편 김일성종합대학 교육자 살림집 준공식에는 박봉주 내각 총리, 김기남·최태복·문경덕 노동당 비서, 태형철 김일성대 총장, 김태희 김일성대 당 위원회 책임비서가 참석했다.

박봉주 총리는 준공사를 통해 김 제1위원장이 살림집 건설의 전 과정을 이끌었다며 '당의 주체적인 교육 사상과 정책을 빛나게 관철해 후대 교육과 인재육성 사업에서 큰 성과를 이룩해나가야 할 것'이라고 말했다.

김일성대 교육자 살림집은 평양 룡흥 네거리에 세워진 고층 아파트로, 당 창건 기념일(10월 10일)에 맞춰 공사가 끝났다.
Emailksw@koreatimes.co.kr Article ListMore articles by this reporter
 
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