mandag 28. mars 2022

A Long Road to Nowhere: 10 Years of the Kim Jong Un Regime

To one of the 20th century’s greatest poets, T.S. Eliot, April “is the cruelest month.” But for the North Korean state, April is the month of festivities. In 1974, North Korean government designated April 15 – the birthday of Kim Il Sung, the founder of North Korea and grandfather of current leader Kim Jong Un – as the nation’s biggest public holiday calling it the Day of the Sun.

This April 15 is particularly important, since Kim Jong Un will also celebrate the 10th anniversary of his complete succession to power. But the celebration under the shadow of new apartment complexes in Pyongyang, alongside new ballistic weapons, will be papering over Kim Jong Un’s failure on all fronts.