It was a simple portrait in an otherwise unremarkable photograph that appeared in North Korean state media recently. But for North Korea watchers, it spoke volumes.
In this undated photo provided on Oct. 16, 2019, by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un rides a white horse to climb Mount Paektu, North Korea. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted …SEOUL, South Korea —
More worryingly, signals that the nuclear-armed Mr. Kim may be elevating himself above and beyond his predecessors could signal a more hostile policy toward external enemies.“It is important because North Korea finally acknowledges and accepts the status of Kim Jong-un alongside his two predecessors,” said Kim Kwang-jin, a North Korean defector who directs the Department of Unification and Human Rights Studies at Seoul’s Institute for National Security Strategy.
After purging a number of military leaders, Mr. Kim had his powerful uncle, Jang Song Thaek — believed to have maintained high-level relations with Beijing, as well as a personal business power base — executed in 2013. Mr. Kim, who spent years being secretly educated in Switzerland, reinstated the authority of the party over the military, a move that reversed his father’s approach.
While he continues to don traditional tunics, he also wears Western-style suits, sometimes even leather jackets.
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