{"id":2294,"date":"2018-11-07T20:07:48","date_gmt":"2018-11-07T20:07:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/?p=2294"},"modified":"2018-11-07T20:07:48","modified_gmt":"2018-11-07T20:07:48","slug":"north-koreas-kim-jong-un-gets-first-official-portrait","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/2018\/11\/07\/north-koreas-kim-jong-un-gets-first-official-portrait\/","title":{"rendered":"North Korea’s Kim Jong-un gets ‘first official portrait’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n

North Korea has unveiled what’s thought to be the first official painting of Kim Jong-un, lifting the leader to a new level of personality cult.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

While his predecessors’ portraits are all across the country, Kim Jong-un has long been styled as a successor rather than a leader in his own right.<\/p>\n

His role has seen a gradual change over time though, very much helped by a string of international visits in 2018.<\/p>\n

The huge new picture was on display during a visit by Cuba’s president.<\/p>\n

If you remember seeing pictures of Mr Kim then those would have been photographs, not paintings, or unofficial fan art.<\/p>\n

The new larger-than-life artwork shows him smiling, looking slightly to his left, while wearing a Western style suit and tie.<\/p>\n

“That a painted portrait of Kim Jong-un has appeared in this style is a strong hint that the regime could be beginning to take steps to develop the Kim Jong-un personality cult,” Oliver Hotham, managing editor with NK News, told the BBC.<\/p>\n

The style of the painting is so evocative of the ever-present portraits of the older Kims, that “North Koreans will certainly understand the symbolism of this move”.<\/p>\n

Symbolism and imagery are all-important in North Korea: portraits of Kim Jong-un’s father and grandfather portraits hang in every building in the country.<\/p>\n

Since assuming power in 2011, the current leader has been styled more like a successor and disciple of his two overbearing predecessors, rather than an equal yet.<\/p>\n

Kim Jong-un moved to the helm of the country rather abruptly when his father died unexpectedly in 2011.<\/p>\n

He was relatively inexperienced and had not yet been built up as a future leader.<\/p>\n

Over time though, his image has changed, explains Andray Abrahamian from the Griffith Asia Institute.<\/p>\n

“The most important markers have included a raft of songs and cultural products celebrating Kim Jong-un and his family – referred to as the Paektu bloodline – reorganising the government so that a new institution is at its heart, and having a new strategic line, separate to his father’s.”<\/p>\n

While his father pursued a military-first agenda, Kim Jong-un has pushed for a two-track policy to develop nuclear weapons as well as the economy.<\/p>\n

“Everything that’s happened in 2018 has also worked to solidify his image,” says Mr Hotham.<\/p>\n

“Eight summit with foreign heads of state have been a delight for Pyongyang’s propagandists, helping them paint the leader as an internationally respected statesmen on par with Xi Jinping and Donald Trump.”<\/p>\n

So far it’s only been on shown on TV during the state visit to Pyongyang of Cuban President Miguel D\u00edaz-Cane.<\/p>\n

It’s not yet clear how Pyongyang will handle the display in the future or whether it will make a regular appearances.<\/p>\n

For now, the painting will likely end up in tightly guarded storage, said Mr Abrahamian, to be rolled out only on special occasions.<\/p>\n

Whether it will indeed become a propaganda staple like the portraits of the father and grandfather remains to be seen.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-asia-46106393<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

North Korea has unveiled what’s thought to be the first official painting of Kim Jong-un, lifting the leader to a new level of personality cult.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":129,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/129"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2294"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2294\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2295,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2294\/revisions\/2295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}