Hasty projections from South Korean media
speculating North Korea’s Kim Jong Un may be in questionable condition, based
on photographs they believed show him with graying hair, have been criticized
for being “clueless.”
Idolization of Kim Jong Un in the North is
carried out with meticulous calculations and any information related to his
personal well-being would be kept utterly confidential. It would, therefore, be
impossible for the depiction of any elements– such as “graying hair”– that
would raise questions about his health that could not be readily dismissed, the
argument goes. There are also problems with the nature of reporting on such
speculative issues, despite it coming from an illusion created by overuse of
hair product.
South Korean media reported on Tuesday that
Kim Jong Un’s hair has grayed at a shocking rate, citing images from the
North’s Party-run newspaper Rodong Sinmun.
However, this is simply the result of using
too much hair product in Kim’s effort to emulate the looks of his grandfather
and founder of the state Kim Il Sung, experts said.
“It appears Kim Jong Un is using a variety
of hair products to keep his hairstyle clean like Kim Il Sung did,” a
high-level North Korean defector told Daily NK. “This could have made his hair
look gray under a camera flash.”
What makes the assertion even more
untenable is the fact that Kim is accompanied by a team of aides who manage his
style and clothing on field guidances, not to mention the scrutiny each
photograph goes under at Rodong Sinmun before being published. Releasing an
image of Kim with graying hair simply would not have been an option.
“The aides follow him around, dolling him
up head to toe,” a former Party cadre who defected to the South said. “If he
had any gray hairs showing, they would have used the best hair coloring
product. It makes no sense at all to think they would have been so indifferent
to it all.”
She added that considering every step of the
North’s top leader is choreographed and having gray hair at such a young age
would be of great political loss, releasing images of that nature “would never
happen,” and asserted that reporting blunders like this “stem from a lack of
knowledge about North Korea’s system.”
“The political department at Rodong Sinmun
falls under the Party’s Propaganda and Agitation department. They comb through
every photo, knowing a bad one could land them in a political prison camp,” the
defector said. “Kim Jong Un who places so much importance on the ‘highest
dignity’ would not be able to let it go. It would become a big political
incident.”
When asked how a photograph with gray hair
would be any different from the images released last year of Kim carrying
around a walking stick, she said that the two issues “could not be more
different.”
“A cane can be spun as him being ‘a leader
who has been on one too many site tours,’ but graying hair can’t be used for
anything,” the defector explained. “For a leader as young as him, graying hair
is not good for idolization and is not a natural course to take.”
