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Has N. Korea's mysterious successor made a blunder with binoculars?
Yonhap News ^ | 02/21/11

Posted on 02/21/2011 4:34:12 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster

Has N. Korea's mysterious successor made a blunder with binoculars?

SEOUL, Feb. 21 (Yonhap) -- Goof or genius?

Last week, North Korea's official television station aired footage of leader Kim Jong-il's past military inspections, during which his third son and heir apparent, Kim Jong-un, was seen watching a tank drill while apparently holding a pair of binoculars upside down.

The scene, belatedly discovered by South Korean journalists on Monday, was considered a rare blunder by North Korea's official media that spares no austerity in praising the ruling dynasty.

It also contrasted with the intensifying cult of personality surrounding the 20-something man that the communist regime unveiled to the world as a four-star general in September last year.

According to Japanese media, North Korea in 2009 began handing out internal propaganda material that praised Kim Jong-un as a brilliant military genius with charm no one can ever resist.

The report was followed by South Korean ones that speculated that Kim Jong-un may have masterminded the deadly sinking of a South Korean warship in March and the bombardment of a South Korean island in November last year.

Many South Korean Internet users, however, appeared to be ready to disagree that Kim Jong-un could be so gifted as a military commander, as they looked at the footage of him holding binoculars.

"What a hilarious guy!" Woo Chang-wook said on Nate, referring to Kim. "You're making me laugh big-time!"

"The dark future of North Korea seems to be contained in those binoculars," Im Hyun-ju said on the same major portal site, calling Kim "dimwitted."

A brief bout of controversy even erupted on the Internet, with some users siding with Kim and saying that the binoculars were held rightly, an indication of the growing public scrutiny surrounding the young man anointed as successor to the nuclear-armed North.

Kim is the grandchild of North Korea's founder, Kim Il-sung, who died in 1994, handing his power to Kim Jong-il. Since apparently suffering a stroke in the summer of 2008, Kim Jong-il is believed to have sped up his hereditary succession plan. The fact that no modern country has ever pulled off a back-to-back father-to-son power succession did not stop him from pushing ahead with his ambition.

Since Kim Jong-il took over Pyongyang, North Korea has undergone one of the largest famines the region has witnessed, reportedly losing as many as 2 million people. Despite the economic woes, Kim went ahead with two nuclear tests and continues to invest a heavy amount of resources in building advanced weapons such as missiles.

Little is known about Kim Jong-un's character. He is believed to be Swiss-educated while his two older brothers have fallen out of their father's favor. North Korea's official media have been increasing the coverage of Kim Jong-un's public activities since he was revealed last year, giving him as much spotlight as his aging father in certain segments.

The footage that showed Kim Jong-un holding binoculars was aired on Feb. 16, the 69th birthday of Kim Jong-il.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: binoculars; kimjongun; nkorea
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To: TigerLikesRooster

Yes but.......he is wearing the gray parka. That’s what really matters


21 posted on 02/21/2011 5:40:32 AM PST by bert (K.E. N.P. N.C. D.E. +12 ....( History is a process, not an event ))
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To: TigerLikesRooster
Image Hosting
22 posted on 02/21/2011 5:46:04 AM PST by reagan_fanatic (A communist is just a liberal in a hurry)
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To: TigerLikesRooster

Are those binoculars gold plated?


23 posted on 02/21/2011 6:10:43 AM PST by 6SJ7 (atlasShruggedInd = TRUE)
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To: reagan_fanatic

I can see McDonalds from here!


24 posted on 02/21/2011 6:18:10 AM PST by Dr. Ursus
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To: TigerLikesRooster

Confucius say top man who hold binoculars upside down see his bottom


25 posted on 02/21/2011 6:23:19 AM PST by bunkerhill7
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To: TigerLikesRooster

Next May Day, 25,000 north koreans are likely to be goosestepping along the parade route with upside down binoculars pressed to their eyes, as a mass demonstration of the juche way of using them. Heck, it’ll probably catch on among lefty college students here as a way of demonstrating solidarity.


26 posted on 02/21/2011 6:53:13 AM PST by sphinx
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To: TigerLikesRooster

I hate to rain on everyone’s parade but he is holding the binoculars correctly. The internal prisms give it an offset and when looked at from the front appears to be upside down. I have also noticed this in several American made movies like MIDWAY, I first think they are being held upside down.

Just to check, I went and got my own binoculars. Yes, he is holding his binoculars correctly. You can see the end of the hinge very clearly, but it looks like they are upside down!


27 posted on 02/21/2011 7:36:30 AM PST by Ruy Dias de Bivar (Visit the TOMMY FRANKS MILITARY MUSEUM in HOBART, OK. I did, well worth it!)
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To: Ruy Dias de Bivar
Yes, he is holding his binoculars correctly.

His eyes are set wide, so they are opened up a long way.

28 posted on 02/21/2011 7:49:26 AM PST by Carry_Okie (The environment is too complex and too important to manage by central planning.)
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To: Jet Jaguar; monkapotamus; Cindy; AmericanInTokyo; All

OMG Got check this out Jet LOL!


29 posted on 02/21/2011 9:50:18 AM PST by SevenofNine ("We are Freepers, all your media belong to us ,resistance is futile")
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To: Dr. Ursus

More like I see Sarah Palin from my house LOL! with a shot gun LOL!


30 posted on 02/21/2011 9:51:42 AM PST by SevenofNine ("We are Freepers, all your media belong to us ,resistance is futile")
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To: TigerLikesRooster

As though that would make any difference in what he was seeing.


31 posted on 02/21/2011 9:53:36 AM PST by aruanan
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To: TigerLikesRooster; JRios1968

32 posted on 02/21/2011 10:32:47 AM PST by martin_fierro (Hooray PinkyPie!)
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To: TigerLikesRooster

The fact is that everyone in the world to this date
has been holding their binoculars wrong, only the
Young Leader has the courage and insight to hold
them the correct way, the Young Leader is not bound
by the chains of reactionary tradition but leads the
vanguard of Juche thought, etc etc.


33 posted on 02/21/2011 12:31:09 PM PST by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
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To: SevenofNine

LOL


34 posted on 02/21/2011 1:50:14 PM PST by Jet Jaguar
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To: Jet Jaguar

You think it was worst than Clinton hold it wrong during first year of his adminsation I THINK SO ROFL


35 posted on 02/21/2011 2:42:36 PM PST by SevenofNine ("We are Freepers, all your media belong to us ,resistance is futile")
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