GENERATING MYTHS about North Korea’s leaders has been essential to underscoring the cult of personality in the secretive communist state.
It has also been a key factor in maintaining the Kim dynasty’s grip on power. The current succession from North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il, who died last week, to his son, Kim Jong-un, is no different.
So remarkable a figure was Kim Jong-il that the weather itself bowed down to his power. During his life, he “blocked the howling wind of history” and, when he died, the weather was freakishly cold and the seas were stormy. His death caused the waves to rise up to three metres.
This message of meteorological miracles came from KCNA, North Korea’s official news agency, which is no stranger to hyperbole but is really pulling out all the stops to mark the passing of the country’s “Dear Leader”.
The tools for making the myth were first employed by Kim Jong-il’s father, the “Great Leader” Kim Il-sung, and they are being used with haste following the death of Kim Jong-il.
When Kim Jong-il was born on the sacred Baekdu mountain, a star rose above the spot, a double rainbow appeared and spring broke out spontaneously. Did we mention that his nativity was foretold by a swallow?
According to KCNA, the good news is that once the dreadful days surrounding his death are past, a “spring of prosperity under socialism will surely come to the country thanks to the patriotic devotion of Kim Jong-il, who blocked the howling wind of history till the last moments of his life”.
The uncommonly bad weather prevailed over his last hours, KCNA reported. “In the morning of December 17th, when he was on the train to make a journey of field guidance for the people, the temperature was four to seven degrees centigrade lower than the average, scoring the lowest this winter.
“Seeing his dedication, in tears the people would ask him to stop making any more journeys along snow-covered roads in cold weather and sitting up all night.”
Since his death, more than 100 poems have been written in his name, including Rise Up, People of The Great General, The Field Car Has Not Stoppedand Soldiers! Do Not Forget the General.
Known in official media as the “Lodestar of the 21st Century”, Kim Jong-il had a photographic memory, his political writings and philosophy were reported and broadcast every day and he wrote scores of books telling “all the truths of the world”. He also wrote six operas in two years and hit 11 holes in one in the first round of golf he played.
In the West, the image of Kim Jong-il is of a gourmand with flying phobia who travelled everywhere in a specially fitted Japanese-built train with 21 carriages, lobster tanks and two armoured Mercedes cars. Inside the train, he would chow down on sushi and quaff vintage Bordeaux wine, which he took to drinking after doctors made him give up Hennessy cognac. Meanwhile, the citizens of his country were starving outside during the regular famines that blighted his reign.
The mythmaking is starting for Kim Jong-un, “born of heaven” and the latest in this celestial bloodline to ascend to the revolutionary throne. It works in his favour that he bears a startling resemblance to his grandfather, Kim Il-sung, as a young man.
He was already being called “Young General”, and this week was elevated to “Great Successor”.