North Korea has unveiled one of its first-known statues of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, using the “highly unusual” sculpture to depict the leader as a smiling man of the people, an analyst told reporters.
State-run Korean Central Television recently broadcast images of the half-body sculpture, depicting Kim smiling warmly with his right hand tucked in his coat pocket.
The South Korean Ministry of Unification, which handles inter-Korean relations for Seoul, said that it was the first such work depicting the third-generation leader.
Photo: AFP / KCNA via KNS
“A statue of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was recently shown on Korean Central Television, and as far as we know, this is the first time it has been identified,” the ministry said yesterday.
North Korea is dotted with massive statues venerating Kim’s grandfather Kim Il-sung and his father, Kim Jong-il — the first two members of the family dynasty to rule the nation.
Expert Lim Eul-chul from Kyungnam University’s Institute for Far Eastern Studies said that such honors were typically reserved for dead people, making the sculpture of Kim Jong-un “highly unusual.”
“North Korea is moving toward the peak of a leader-focused cult,” Lim said. “The statue is particularly notable because it is highly unusual for the regime to create a monument of a leader who is still alive.”
The work stood out for its efforts to portray Kim Jong-un as a more relatable figure, Lim told reporters.
“Rather than depicting him as a god-like figure, the North is likely to promote a narrative portraying him as a leader who earns people’s respect and devotes himself to their welfare,” he added.
North Korea releases highly choreographed images to illustrate Kim Jong-un’s absolute grip on power. He was shown riding a white horse up a sacred mountain in 2019, while other photographs have shown him mobbed by fawning soldiers, shooting guns and driving military vehicles.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in 2019 gifted North Korea a half-body bust of Kim Jong-un during a visit to Pyongyang.
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