State spin machine works on leader’s militaristic image

NORTH KOREA’S new leader received a birthday present from the country’s propaganda machine yesterday – a 50-minute documentary burnishing his military credentials, with much of the never-before-seen footage dating from before his recent assumption of power.

The documentary is the second in seven days seeking to highlight Kim Jong-un’s experience in leading North Korea’s 1.2 million-strong military and was aimed at showing that he was in charge of the armed forces long before his father, former leader Kim Jong-il, died of an apparent heart attack last month.

The son, who is in his late 20s and is thought to have celebrated a birthday yesterday, has moved swiftly into the role of “supreme leader” of the people, the ruling Workers’ Party and the military despite questions abroad about how easily he could assume power with only a few years of grooming behind him. Kim Jong-il, in contrast, had 20 years of training when his father, North Korea founder Kim Il-sung, died of a heart attack in 1994.

Where a North Korea under Kim Jong-un is headed is deemed crucial because the country is locked in a long-running standoff over its nuclear ambitions and is grappling with chronic food shortages.

North Korea has tested two atomic devices and is believed to be working toward mounting a warhead on a missile capable of reaching targets in the US and Europe.

Yesterday’s footage confirmed that Kim Jong-un was being groomed as early as 2009 to succeed Kim Jong-il. The choice of Kim Jong-un as successor among the elder Kim’s three known sons was not revealed publicly until state media reported in September 2010 that he had been made a four-star general and a vice chairman of the central military commission of the Workers’ Party.

The video showed Kim Jong- un shaking hands with officials at a satellite control centre after scientists launched a rocket in April 2009 that stoked regional tensions and earned North Korea international sanctions and condemnation.

“I had decided to wage a real war if the enemies shot down the rocket”, Kim Jong-un was quoted as saying. A voice-over described Kim Jong-il as saying his son was in charge of the military’s anti-rocket interception operations at the time.

North Korea has said it successfully sent a satellite into orbit as part of a peaceful bid to develop its space programme. Japanese, US and South Korean officials, however, said no satellite or other objects reached orbit, and accused the North of using the launch to test its long-range missile technology.

At the time, Japan had threatened to shoot down any debris from the rocket if the launch went off course.

The video also showed Kim Jong-un driving an armoured personnel carrier, observing fighter jets and firing exercises, and posing for photographs with soldiers. He is shown seated in the tank’s driving seat and speaking to officers with the hatch cover open. He later drove it on a snow-covered road as his father watched from a reviewing stand.

For two years North Koreans have been told that Kim Jong- un, who graduated from Kim Il-sung Military University, is a military genius.

Yesterday’s documentary said Kim Jong-un had intensified military training, and showed fighter jets tearing through the skies, and soldiers jumping out of planes with parachutes and firing multiple-rocket launchers.

It cited Kim Jong-il as saying, “Our general resembles me …. I sometimes admire his strong belief, resolve and gut.”

Kim senior is also quoted as saying his son has “outstanding [military] strategies and is well-versed in military tactics … He is a man of many abilities and the genius among the geniuses.”

Another documentary aired a week ago showed Kim Jong-un visiting a premier tank division with strong historical and family ties in the first solo inspection trip made after his father’s death.

Since Kim Jong-il’s death on 17 December, the process to install his son as leader has been quick, with top military and party officials wasting no time in pledging their loyalty to the third Kim to lead the nation of 24 million since it was founded in 1948.

Kim Jong-un has pledged to uphold Kim Jong-Il’s songun “military first” policy.

He is believed to have turned 28 or 29 yesterday, though his exact birth date has not been confirmed. The birthdays of his father and grandfather are considered the nation’s most important holidays, but Kim Jong-un’s birthday has not been declared a national holiday.