North Korea calls Obama a 'crossbreed' in viciously racist attack
Reuters/Corbis
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
You are now subscribed
Your newsletter sign-up was successful
A North Korean state-run news agency earlier this month launched an ugly, racist diatribe against President Obama, calling the U.S.'s first black head of state a "crossbreed with unclear blood." The agency also said that Obama "still has the figure of monkey while the human race has evolved through millions of years," and that "it would be perfect for Obama to live with a group of monkeys in the world’s largest African natural zoo and lick the bread crumbs thrown by spectators."
The screed was recently brought to light by Josh Stanton, who blogs frequently about North Korea.
The issue of race has special resonance in North Korea, where the Stalinist regime has gone to great lengths to instill a sense of racial purity in its citizens. Some background from The Washington Post:
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
[W]hen North Korea talks about race, it's almost always important — and telling about the state ideology.
Some academics — most notably B.R. Myers — argue that North Koreans fundamentally have a "race-based" worldview, showing more similarity to fascist Japan during World War II than Joseph Stalin's Soviet Union. Myers condenses North Korea's state orthodoxy into a sentence: "The Korean people are too pure blooded, and therefore too virtuous, to survive in this evil world without a great parental leader." [The Washington Post]
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Ryu Spaeth is deputy editor at TheWeek.com. Follow him on Twitter.
-
Political cartoons for February 18Cartoons Wednesday’s political cartoons include the DOW, human replacement, and more
-
The best music tours to book in 2026The Week Recommends Must-see live shows to catch this year from Lily Allen to Florence + The Machine
-
Gisèle Pelicot’s ‘extraordinarily courageous’ memoir is a ‘compelling’ readIn the Spotlight A Hymn to Life is a ‘riveting’ account of Pelicot’s ordeal and a ‘rousing feminist manifesto’
-
Judge orders Washington slavery exhibit restoredSpeed Read The Trump administration took down displays about slavery at the President’s House Site in Philadelphia
-
Hyatt chair joins growing list of Epstein files losersSpeed Read Thomas Pritzker stepped down as executive chair of the Hyatt Hotels Corporation over his ties with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell
-
Judge blocks Hegseth from punishing Kelly over videoSpeed Read Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth pushed for the senator to be demoted over a video in which he reminds military officials they should refuse illegal orders
-
Trump’s EPA kills legal basis for federal climate policySpeed Read The government’s authority to regulate several planet-warming pollutants has been repealed
-
House votes to end Trump’s Canada tariffsSpeed Read Six Republicans joined with Democrats to repeal the president’s tariffs
-
Bondi, Democrats clash over Epstein in hearingSpeed Read Attorney General Pam Bondi ignored survivors of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and demanded that Democrats apologize to Trump
-
El Paso airspace closure tied to FAA-Pentagon standoffSpeed Read The closure in the Texas border city stemmed from disagreements between the Federal Aviation Administration and Pentagon officials over drone-related tests
-
Judge blocks Trump suit for Michigan voter rollsSpeed Read A Trump-appointed federal judge rejected the administration’s demand for voters’ personal data