Murals of former leaders appear before North Korea party congress

By Lee Jin-a

North Korea has had more than five mosaic murals of its two previous leaders Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il painted at sites including Pyongyang and South Hamgyeong Province ahead of the ruling Workers’ Party’s first congress in more than 30 years, according to local media.

The congress is slated for May 6, during which North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is expected to tighten his grip on power. Experts said the totalitarian country was stepping up efforts to idolize its leader ahead of the political event, and that the murals were part of this.

“One mural drawn on the wall of a hydroelectric power plant portrays Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il climbing Mt. Baekdu,” said the North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency.

Kim Jong-un inherited political power from his father Kim Jong-il, who died in December 2011, and Jong-un’s grandfather Kim Il-sung founded North Korea.

Murals of the two smiling former leaders have also been drawn on the walls of textile factories in Pyongyang and at a state-owned farm in South Hamgyeong Province.