When North Korea broke a three-week silence on leader Kim Jong-un’s public activity yesterday, it offered no clue as to where he had been during a period of intense global speculation about his health and whereabouts, or why he was hidden from the public for so long.
Instead, state media simply showed him surrounded by aides and appearing confident at a gleaming fertilizer factory that is believed by outside experts to be part of a secret nuclear weapons program.
While much remains a mystery about Kim’s condition, the abrupt re-emergence of the relaxed and smiling leader was an obvious choreography of key messages from the secretive government: Kim is the supreme leader in full control of a drive to improve the impoverished country’s food security and economy, amid tough international sanctions and the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Photo: AFP
The official Rodong Sinmun yesterday devoted three of its six pages to touting Kim’s leadership, crediting him for what it called “prosperity and self-reliance.”
Reuters could not verify the accuracy of official accounts or the authenticity of pictures from the event.
The sprawling complex is the result of Kim’s vision to build a modern factory that would support agricultural production and make progress in automating its chemical industry, former North Korean premier Pak Pong-ju said at the ribbon-cutting ceremony where Kim reappeared.
Kim’s appearance at the Sunchon fertilizer plant, which official media said occurred on Friday, was an example of “field guidance” — a key part of Kim’s public persona, where he presides over a major industrial or social project event, or at military drills involving strategic weapons, such as ballistic missiles or tactical warfare.
His second public visit this year to the site 50km north of the capital, Pyongyang, included a sizeable audience of officials from the army, the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea and the local community. Many wore masks in an apparent precaution against the coronavirus.
“Agricultural production is a top priority, which has a direct impact on the lives of the people,” said Koh Yu-hwan, president of the Korea Institute for National Unification, a South Korean government think-tank.
Kim’s sudden return was “a strategy to be in the center of world news without resorting to nuclear or missile tests,” Koh said.
The phosphate fertilizer factory in Sunchon, under construction since June 2017, has received much attention from North Korea’s leaders.
International observers have said that the plant is part of the North’s clandestine pursuit of uranium extraction for use in nuclear weapons, as the mineral can be a byproduct of making phosphate fertilizer.
There is strong evidence the factory is involved in uranium extraction, said a report this month by the California-based James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies.
A convenience store clerk in Taoyuan was yesterday allegedly stabbed to death by a customer after asking the customer to wear a mask. The incident occurred a little after 5am at a store on Guangfong Street in Gueishan District (龜山), police said. When the suspect, surnamed Chiang (蔣), 41, entered the store without wearing a mask, the 30-year-old clerk, surnamed Tsai (蔡), asked that he put one on, police said. Chiang exited the store and came back wearing a mask, they said, adding that after paying for his items he took it off and threw it at Tsai before leaving. Chiang returned shortly afterward
‘UNPRECEDENTED’: Taiwan’s envoy said that official wording framing Taiwan-China issues as not about unification or independence counters the narrative Beijing wants Use of the phrase “democratic Taiwan” by Germany’s new coalition government in official document shows that Taiwan-China issues are not about “independence” against “unification,” but about democracy against authoritarianism, Representative to Germany Shieh Jhy-wey (謝志偉) said yesterday. Germany’s Social Democratic Party, Free Democratic Party and the Greens — known as the “traffic light coalition” for their colors — on Wednesday inked a coalition agreement following elections on Sept. 26. The agreement, a blueprint for their governance for the next four years, mentions “Taiwan,” which is unprecedented, showing that the new German government is paying close attention to cross-strait peace and supports Taiwan’s
BIDEN NOD: A China watcher said that the inclusion of Taiwan is notable, as it is the only democratic state on the list that Washington does not officially recognize Minister Without Portfolio Audrey Tang (唐鳳) and Representative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) are to attend the US-led Summit for Democracy on Dec. 9 and 10, the government said yesterday, after US President Joe Biden announced the list of guests for the virtual event. The US Department of State on Tuesday announced a list of 110 invited participants, including Taiwan, Australia, Canada, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Japan and the UK. China and Russia were not invited, and Beijing expressed anger at the decision to invite Taiwan. The summit is to revolve around three key themes: Defending against authoritarianism, addressing and fighting
DEFYING PRESSURE: Lithuania said it has the right to expand cooperation with Taiwan, after China downgraded its ties with Vilnius to the ‘charge d’affaires’ level Lithuania yesterday said it “regrets” China’s decision to downgrade diplomatic ties in protest after Taiwan established a de facto embassy in Vilnius. “Lithuania reaffirms its adherence to the ‘one China’ policy, but at the same time has the right to expand cooperation with Taiwan,” including establishing non-diplomatic missions, the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. China has officially downgraded diplomatic ties with Lithuania in protest, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said earlier in the day. In Taipei, the Mainland Affairs Council said it was “rude and unreasonable” for China to interfere in other countries’ affairs and obstruct Taiwan’s normal
RSS