Photo Book Features Ri Sol-ju's Photo
The Only Wife Among Three Generations, Interpreted as Part of Kim Jong-un Idolization Effort
The Only Wife Among Three Generations, Interpreted as Part of Kim Jong-un Idolization Effort
[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo In-ho] North Korea has drawn attention by featuring Ri Sol-ju, the wife of Kim Jong-un, General Secretary of the Workers' Party, in a propaganda publication that idolizes the ‘Baekdu Mountain bloodline’.
On the 18th, the external propaganda media Uri Minjokki, affiliated with the Workers' Party United Front Department and responsible for publications aimed at South Korea and foreign audiences, announced that the Pyongyang Publishing House released a pictorial book titled “The People Sing of Baekdu Mountain” on the 16th.
The 100-page pictorial contains poems and calligraphy praising President Kim Il-sung, such as ‘General Star’ and ‘Light Song,’ as well as poems honoring National Defense Commission Chairman Kim Jong-il, including ‘Song of General Kim Jong-il’ and ‘Listen to the Joy of That Day.’
In the preface, after listing the achievements of the three Kim family leaders related to Baekdu Mountain, it propagandizes, “Our people will sing even louder the song of Baekdu Mountain, whose name shines as the mountain of General Kim Il-sung, General Kim Jong-il, and General Kim Jong-un, and will surely complete the Juche revolutionary cause.”
North Korea uses Baekdu Mountain both as a symbol of Kim Il-sung’s anti-Japanese struggle and as Kim Jong-il’s hometown to justify the three-generation succession through idolization.
Since the collapse of the Hanoi North Korea-US summit in 2019, Kim Jong-un has also promoted Baekdu Mountain as a symbol of overcoming difficulties by undertaking the so-called ‘military horse march,’ riding a white horse across the Baekdu Mountain area.
In this pictorial, the sections depicting Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il do not feature their spouses.
Kim Jong-il never appeared with his wife at official events during his lifetime.
Even after his death, North Korean state media did not separately highlight Kim Jong-il’s women, such as Sung Hye-rim, Kim Young-sook, Ko Yong-hui, and Kim Ok, and this tendency continues in this pictorial book.
In contrast, General Secretary Kim openly revealed his wife immediately after officially taking power in 2012, showing affectionate gestures such as linking arms and smiling warmly at each other.
The pictorial also introduces various images of General Secretary Kim and Ri Sol-ju sitting affectionately by a stream at Baekdu Mountain in December 2019, warming themselves by a campfire together, and riding white horses side by side.
Ri Sol-ju showed a natural demeanor like any other married couple, calling Kim Jong-un ‘husband’ openly in front of South Korean officials during the inter-Korean summit in April 2018.
Kim Jong-suk, the wife of Kim Il-sung and grandmother of Kim Jong-un, was a partisan comrade and the biological mother of Kim Jong-il, known as the ‘root of the Baekdu bloodline,’ but she was also not included in this pictorial book.
Meanwhile, the Pyongyang Publishing House has been continuously releasing publications focusing on General Secretary Kim since the 2016 pictorial “The Great Sky for the People.” This is analyzed as an effort to strengthen idolization in line with consolidating power.
This year, they published the pictorial “The Great Turning Point in Inter-Korean Relations 2018,” covering the inter-Korean summit, and books introducing Kim Jong-un’s achievements over the past decade, such as “Guardian of the Nation’s Destiny, General Kim Jong-un” and “Song of Praise for the Sun of the People, Kim Jong-un.”
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