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The officer appeared to be overcome with emotion as he climbed onto his leader’s back<\/p>\nThe officer appeared to be overcome with emotion as he climbed onto his leader’s back<\/p>\n
North Korea’s test of a rocket engine last weekend was accompanied by the usual state media propaganda – but one image of its leader celebrating stood out in particular. What is the likely explanation?<\/p>\n
The engine test was claimed to be a success, a “new birth” for North Korea’s rocket industry. Kim Jong-un was certainly happy.<\/p>\n
In pictures released by state news agency KCNA, he was seen watching the missile from afar; grinning in a control centre; shaking hands with jubilant officers – then, giving an elderly man a piggyback.<\/p>\n
Who would leap onto the back of a dictator such as this, and why?<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/bbc-world-news-300x169.png\")
Observers say the mysterious man is not a known figure in North Korean politics. He is thought to have played a key role in the engine test, and most likely interacted with Mr Kim previously.<\/p>\n
North Korean observer Michael Madden says his uniform’s insignias indicate he is a mid-level officer of the KPA Strategic Force, which is in charge of missile forces used for offensive attacks.<\/p>\n
While the image was almost certainly stage-managed, “it wasn’t completely machinated or fabricated”, says Mr Madden, who is with the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University.<\/p>\n
“It was more a signal of allowance and encouragement than something completely machinated by an image maker.” North Korean propaganda films have in the past shown citizens being allowed to approach Mr Kim.<\/p>\n
‘Friendly and convivial’
\nThe main purpose of the picture would be to burnish Mr Kim’s domestic image as a jovial man of the people.<\/p>\n
While Mr Kim tries to project a “recalcitrant and uncompromising” image internationally, at home “it is a different story”, notes Professor Jae-Cheon Lim, of the Korea University in Seoul.<\/p>\n
“We know he is very strict with elites when they don’t obey his orders. But in general towards the people his propaganda image is friendly and convivial.”<\/p>\n
It stands in stark contrast to his predecessors, who sought to be feared more than loved. “Nobody would dare piggyback his father or even his grandfather,” says Mr Madden.<\/p>\n
“But this fits into the image [Kim] Jong-un has tried to cultivate – that he is more open, on an interpersonal basis, than his father.<\/p>\n
“It conveys a certain sense of political confidence in his rule and leadership of the country. If he didn’t feel secure, then he wouldn’t allow these images to be disseminated – he would need to appear distant and cold.”<\/p>\n
He was spotted limping and using a cane in 2014, leading to speculation that he had gout, and limping again as recently as late 2016.<\/p>\n
Piggybacking after a win may be more commonly seen on football pitches rather than in North Korean propaganda pictures, but Mr Kim is known for taking a sports management approach to his weapons development programmes.<\/p>\n
“When a test is conducted, civilian and military personnel [are told they] should regard it as a sports competition – they win some, and lose some,” says Mr Madden.<\/p>\n
“They won’t ‘win’ or meet technical specifications all the time, and when they ‘lose’ they study their performance and what happened.”<\/p>\n
But for all its contrived spontaneity, it does not mean that Mr Kim is not genuinely happy in the photo.<\/p>\n
Prof Lim points out that he had good reason to celebrate, with an apparently successful rocket engine test putting him one step closer towards his nuclear goals – and sealing his legacy.<\/p>\n
“In the propaganda annals, his grandfather was the liberator of Korea through its anti-Japanese guerrilla war. His father succeeded in maintaining the regime even under economic poverty.<\/p>\n
“But Kim Jong-un became leader quickly and has no significant achievements to point to so far.<\/p>\n
“If North Korea becomes a nuclear state, it becomes his achievement.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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