Dismissing Kim Jong-un as a big child

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Don't take me wrong, Kim is definitively not "normal" per our standards, but should we really keep on dismissing him as some immature big eternal child who just happened to got his fingers on the nuclear button?

When he took over, many believed he either "won't last long", "will be just a figurehead" or "it'll take years for him to get actual power". Yet, despite not having time his father had before assuming power (Kim Jong-il was a clear heir for decades), he did very good in establishing his authority and eliminating those who were thought to be real power behind the throne.

[Silent Hunter]

I wonder if some of this might be a bit racist... he may have an awful haircut and weight issues, but Koreans tend to look younger than they are to Western eyes.

He's 34 for crying out.

[Vega]

It's classic propaganda. He does the same thing, and we have our own propaganda.

How many of those outlandish stories that we spin about NK do you think are actually true?

[dead0man]

It's classic propaganda. He does the same thing, and we have our own propaganda.

How many of those outlandish stories that we spin about NK do you think are actually true?

which ones do you think are false?

[Silent Hunter]

The one about execution by anti-aircraft gun sounds iffy.

[Storebought]

Yes, leaders of non-white countries are routinely dismissed and slighted by US media, that is, whenever they have any prominence at all.

It's to his advantage that Kim Jong-un is so obese, it makes him look jolly and harmless, like all fat people. If he were hard and lean like any other military officer, he would be Fu Manchu.

[SoLongAtlas]

The one about execution by anti-aircraft gun sounds iffy.

That one did happen.

Re KJU, another major factor in his weight, haircut is that he wants to resemble his grandfather.

[kelestian]

The one about execution by anti-aircraft gun sounds iffy.

That one did happen.

Re KJU, another major factor in his weight, haircut is that he wants to resemble his grandfather.

Possibly not. All these huge histories abour AA-guns or dogs ate some former officials are too detailed to be true. We have no good sources of information in DPRK

[Unapologetic Chinaperson]

Glad people here brought up the racism. We Asians have historically been maligned in political cartoons and other media (just see any Dr. Seuss cartoon on the Japanese).

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[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

The one about execution by anti-aircraft gun sounds iffy.

That one did happen.

Re KJU, another major factor in his weight, haircut is that he wants to resemble his grandfather.

Possibly not. All these huge histories abour AA-guns or dogs ate some former officials are too detailed to be true. We have no good sources of information in DPRK

There also was a story about him supposedly executing his ex-girlfriend, but she turned out to be alive and well later. Not that he's not a brutal dictator, but we've been indeed dealing with a lot of propaganda presented as facts, which only makes dealing with a serious international problem more difficult.

Yeah, physical comparisons with Kim Il-sung are quite deliberate. Also note while Kim Jong-il only once spoke publicly (and all he said was a single sentence), his son draws more comparisons with the first Kim by speaking in public quite frequently.

For all veneration given to Kim Jong-il, it's very helpful for Kim Jing-un to present his rule as a return to Kim Il-sung times, leaving the arduous march behind and so on.

I'd dare to say our most common (in the west) image of Kim Il-sung is of an older one, but the "heroic young guerilla leader who then thought against the American invasion" is still very much alive in North Korea.