Kim Jong-un Propaganda Machine Running in North Korea [PHOTOS]
North Korean leadership is trying to rally the country around its new, inexperienced leader Kim Jong-un. In true North Korean fashion, that means turning the propaganda machine to full steam.
On Sunday, the country's state television station TV KRT broadcast its newest documentary on the life of Kim Jong-un. The new Supreme Leader has been in power for less than a month and in the public eye for just about two years, so the program was one of many recent pushes to create an ideology around Kim Jong-un and to win public affection.
The documentary corresponded with Kim Jong-un's birthday (probably either his 28th or 29th), but one of the primary purposes of the film was to show the strength of the North Korean military. The communist country has the forth largest army in the world, and during his 17-year reign Kim Jong-il made militarization his main priority.
In the film, Kim Jong-un is seen standing with military units, shouting at soldiers, riding inside a tank, inspecting facilities and even riding a horse. It also touted the strength of armed forces, with jets flying and soldiers marching in unison.
The effort to familiarize North Koreans with Kim Jong-un and to make them both fear and love him began about a year before Kim Jong-il's death. Kim Jong-il had nearly 20 years to prepare for power, but his son had only just begun being groomed for the Supreme Leader position for a few years before Kim Jong-il's death.
He was made a four star general in 2010 and state media reported that he was the one who ordered the missile attacks on Yeonpyeong island in South Korea that November.
Since his father's death, images and posters of Kim Jong-un have also appeared in public spaces across North Korea, generally next to similar images of his father. There have also been poems and lyrical ballads composed to praise his Kim Jong-un's leadership abilities, and the government has printed at least 10 million official portraits of him.
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