"It's invetabrule"
Posted on 11/16/2004 8:21:56 AM PST by LesbianThespianGymnasticMidget
Russian News Agency Reports Portraits of North Korean Leader Being Removed From Buildings.
MOSCOW Nov 16, 2004 — Some portraits of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il have been removed from buildings in the country, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported Tuesday, citing an unidentified diplomat.
However, another foreign diplomat in the North Korean capital Pyongyang told The Associated Press that Kim's pictures remain in public places. An official at South Korea's Unification Ministry, which handles relations with North Korea, said "we are not yet able to confirm the reports and thus we don't have any comments to make."
Kim is the focus of an all-encompassing cult of personality in North Korea and images of him are near-ubiquitous in and on the country's buildings. It was unclear what might motivate their removal, but the South Korean official said his country's analysts did not have indications that Kim was facing significant internal political challenges.
In a report from Beijing, ITAR-Tass cited the North Korea-based diplomat as saying that guests at recent Foreign Ministry receptions saw only portraits of Kim's late father, Kim Il Sung, who founded the secretive Communist state. "A light rectangular spot and a nail in the wall were the only things that remained in the place where Kim Jong Il's portrait had hung," the agency cited the diplomat as saying.
But the other diplomat told AP that he had seen nothing "untoward" and that he saw many Kim portraits during a visit to a hospital on Tuesday.
"He's so ronery."
Paint job in the offing?
Praying for the collapse of one more tyrant in the Axis of Evil.
A reunified and free Korea. What a wonderful thing to ponder.
Maybe somebody realized how ugly he is.
Naaah. Taking down existing paintings to install newer, larger paintings. All is well. Report to re-education camp immediately.
This article is so annoying. You have one source saying that some portraits have been removed and other sources saying that many portraits remain, and the author acts as if these statements are contradictory. Not even in North Korea can all portraits be removed at exactly the same time.
Since until now taking down the Beloved Leaders portrait can get you tossed into a hard labor camp for the rest of your artificially truncated life, the fact that some people are taking them down strikes me as a serious development.
Maybe he's going to put up new ones. Like him riding the white horse he's fond of.
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