A Perpetual Morning and North Korea’s Nuclear Manhood

Kim Yong Un is only known in the world for his war language. He did so on Saturday by issuing new nuclear threats against the United States and South Korea.

The opacity and tyranny of his management are the two main traits of his person.

Mastermind behind the murders of one of his uncles and a half brother, Kim Jong Un’s primary objective is the survival of the dynastic dictatorship.

His grandfather and father dedicated themselves to stealing the future of the country: they designed the path that, at gunpoint, the population had to follow; they are the members of the North Korean demographic who earn four dollars a month and who, to forget their hunger, consume “ice”, the methamphetamine that manages to calm the appetite.

“Several scientists have turned the chemical plants in Hamhung into private methamphetamine laboratories. It’s like a North Korean version of the Breaking Bad television series, ”writes journalist Anna Fifield in her book The Great Successor (Captain Swing Books, 2022).

99% of the 30 million inhabitants that North Korea supposedly has live in poverty. It is not a socialist government, it is a church whose only leader is Kim Yong Un, and as such, the entire population is obliged to revere him. It is a nation-sect.

In each house there is a radio that cannot be turned off and in which only one station can be tuned: the official one. A perpetual “morning”.

If one opens a North Korean newspaper, one finds one story after another about the genius and benevolence of Kim Jong Un. There is nothing the Bright Comrade doesn’t know, according to North Korean universal fiction: “he Provides advice on catfish fish farming and cattle breeding, in greenhouses and nurseries, in shipyards and buildings under construction. He inspects the production lines for shoes, face cream, and bean paste, and constantly has wise instructions to impart. He understands music, architecture and sports. He is a military genius, ”writes Ana Fifield ironically.

In the desire to break with the determinism imposed by the dictator, a segment of the North Korean population turns to smugglers to obtain USB flash drives and microSD cards. Fifield indicates that most memories are filled with action movies and soap operas. Others house books and encyclopedias. Other South Korean K-pop songs, others contain porn.

Like every dictator, Kim Jong Un experiences the wealth, distant dreams of the population. He at least he has 33 houses in North Korea, 28 of which are attached to private train stations. Satellites monitoring Kim Jong Un’s movements have found that his main residence is located in northwest Pyongyang, covering an area of ​​nearly 13 square km, and is known as the Central Luxury Mansion.

Another of his residences was described by basketball player Dennis Rodman, a friend of the dictator, as a mix between Disneyland and Hawaii. It is located on the outskirts of Pyonyang, in the Kangdong district. It has a bowling alley and a shooting gallery, stables with horses, a soccer field, and an athletics track.

“Kim often travels in his own private jet, a Soviet-era Ilyushin IL-62 with a cream-colored interior lined with wood paneling, not unlike Air Force One,” writes Ana Fifield, a former correspondent for various Asian countries for The Washington Post and Financial Times.

Fifield recalls that Kim Jong Un’s wife, singer Ri Sol Ju, is the North Korean version of Kate Middleton: “like her, she rejuvenates the monarchy while humanizing her husband.” Everything is in an attempt.

The expectation generated by the coming to power of Kim Jong Un, in December 2011, was that of change. However, over the years it has been diluted.

“Coffee is just an external symbol that denotes that you are a sophisticated and cosmopolitan person,” describes Abrahamian, a Briton who has been to North Korea 30 times and has helped train entrepreneurs, including the one who runs the Kum Rung coffee shop, located in the capital Pyongyang and whose prices are prohibitive for the majority of the population: an iced mocha coffee costs 9 dollars and an espresso, four dollars.

Contact with the outside turns out to be a complex mission. Only 10% of North Koreans have Arirang-brand smartphones, which cost $400, but the regime controls the content, starting with the fact that the Internet is a rare commodity.

“Shoes and cell phones were the big status symbols. To be able to afford a smartphone, you had to come from a rich family”, a teenager confides to Ana Fifield, with the understanding that Kim Jong Un has tried to make both products popular at affordable prices.

Kim Jong Un’s secret war occurs through his army of hackers. It is impossible to forget what Sony suffered after producing the film The Interview, in which the actor who plays Kim Jong Un ends up exploding in a ball of fire.

North Korean hackers have attacked more than a hundred banks and cryptocurrency exchanges around the world. Kim Jong Un tries to implement a revenge strategy against the economic sanctions against him.

The North Korean dictator gains weight in front of a population that loses grams every day due to food shortages. But apparently that doesn’t matter.

What he cares about is showing North Korea’s nuclear manhood.