Portraits in place

last updated 8 January 2015

Pyongyang

Rumors that several portraits of Kim Jong Il were removed from public places are part of a U.S. plot to overthrow the government, North Korea’s Foreign Ministry said this week. Pictures of the reclusive dictator hang in virtually every home, school, and office, and they are plastered on billboards and buildings. Since the summer, though, unnamed foreign diplomats in Pyongyang have reported seeing fewer portraits, and analysts have speculated that Kim could be trying to tone down his cult of personality, and perhaps ease his grip on power. Authorities are trying to put such theories to rest. “Gen. Kim Jong Il is the fate of the Korean people and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s socialism,” said Foreign Ministry official Ri Gyong Son. “It is unimaginable that the DPRK people and army can separate their fates from Kim Jong Il. It is just like trying to remove the sun from the sky.”