Seoul — Gazing wistfully out to sea from atop a white horse, Kim Jong Un stars in a brand new North Korean propaganda video that touts his financial management however ignores a current spate of sanctions-busting missile launches. Pyongyang began the 12 months by conducting a document seven weapons assessments, together with firing its strongest missile since 2017, elevating fears Kim may restart long-range or nuclear testing.
However the government-produced documentary launched this week highlights Kim's battle to proper North Korea's battered financial system, which is reeling from a years-long blockade because of the coronavirus and worldwide sanctions.
"The overriding theme of the documentary is Kim's devotion to and onerous work for the folks," Rachel Minyoung Lee, a non-resident fellow with the 38 North program on the Washington-based Stimson Middle, advised AFP.
The video opens with video of Kim using a white horse, a key image of the Kim household's dynastic rule and one he is used beforehand.
However "I do not suppose we must always learn an excessive amount of into the horse scenes, a lot much less hyperlink them to North Korea's current missile launches and North Korea's missile take a look at plans," Lee mentioned.
With talks with Washington stalled, North Korea has doubled down on Kim's vow to modernize the regime's armed forces, regardless of experiences of hovering meals costs and worsening starvation.
The propaganda movie makes coded reference to the nation's "worst-ever hardships" in 2021, exhibiting footage of Kim rigorously making his manner down stairs as a narrator describes how his "physique has been utterly withered away" by onerous work.
That is an try and "humanize" Kim, Yang Moo-jin, a professor on the College of North Korean Research, advised AFP.
"They're making an attempt to color him as a pacesetter who very a lot loves his folks and, consequently, is usually overworked and will get drained," Yang mentioned.
North Korea is getting ready to have fun the eightieth anniversary of the start of late chief Kim Jong Il in February in addition to the a hundred and tenth birthday of founder Kim Il Sung in April.
The photographs of Kim thundering alongside on a white horse "are getting used to remind viewers that Kim Jong Un is the descendent of Kim Il Sung, who could be very a lot a sacred determine", Yang mentioned.
Different movies of Kim launched this week by the state-run KCTV confirmed Kim, spouse Ri Sol Ju and aunt Kim Kyong Hui attending a theatre occasion.
Kim Kyong Hui was rumoured to have died following the execution of her reform-minded husband, Jang Tune Thaek, just for her to reappear at a public occasion six years later.
The slew of movies launched across the Lunar New Yr might be an try to spotlight Kim's vitality, Cheong Seong-chang of the Middle for North Korea Research on the Sejong Institute, advised AFP.
"The horse-riding scenes, specifically, appear to have been produced to indicate off his well being at dwelling and overseas."
"It reveals his sturdy willpower and motivation for the brand new 12 months."