North Koreans are talking about a recent Lunar New Year performance attended by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his wife, Ri Sol Ju. People have reportedly focused particularly on Ri’s decision to wear traditional Korean clothing.
A Daily NK source in Pyongyang said Friday that Ri wore the same black traditional skirt and wine-colored traditional jacket worn by Kim Jong Suk, the wife of late North Korean founder Kim Il Sung, in the years right after the founding of the country. He said everyone who saw Ri and her attire were reminded of Kim.
Standing next to her husband, Ri appears several times in the video, which was shown on state-run Korea Central Television. This drew public attention, as it was the first she had appeared in 145 days since paying her respects at Kumsusan Palace of the Sun on Sept. 9 to mark North Korea’s national foundation day.
That she wore traditional clothing drew even more attention.
Ri took in shows with her husband last year, too: a small-scale performance for military families on May 5, a joint performance of major arts troupes to mark Kim Il Sung’s birthday on Apr. 15, and a memorial performance to mark late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il’s birthday on Feb. 16. She watched a Lunar New Year’s performance on Jan. 25, 2020, too. However, she wore a Western-style suit, not traditional clothing.
This is also not the first time Ri has worn traditional clothing. Ri wore similarly colored traditional clothing during a 2012 party to celebrate the launch of the Kwangmyongsong 3 rocket and a 2016 party to celebrate the launch of the Kwangmyongsong 4.
However, since she wore traditional clothing reminiscent of Kim Jong Suk this year – when the nation celebrates the 110th birthday of Kim Il Sung and 80th birthday of Kim Jong Il – North Koreans are lending it greater significance.
The source said many North Koreans speculate that Ri is trying to draw a line between her and Kim Jong Suk, just as her husband has inherited the legacy of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Un.
In particular, the source said cadres from the Central Committee and Propaganda and Agitation Department are saying that since they have shored up the 10th anniversary of Kim’s leadership, they are now rushing to make Ri the new Kim Jong Suk.
He said this means they are passing the baton from Kim Jong Suk — the “mother of socialist Korea” and a heroine of the anti-Japanese resistance — to Ri, turning her into the “mother of Korea.”
Regarding how Ri was the first to speak after the performance when her husband encouraged the performers, the source said people say this was to elevate Ri as the “mother of Korea” like Kim Jong Suk and lionize her as a figure of respect.
All this has North Koreans recalling Kim Jong Un’s birthmother, Kim Yong Hui, too. Much as the leadership has passed from Kim Il Sung to Kim Jong Il to Kim Jong Un, the title of “mother of Korea” should pass from Kim Jong Suk to Ko Yong Hui to Ri Sol Ju. However, Ko is not praised as highly as Kim, nor are her accomplishments well known. People even say they do not know where she is buried.
The source said because of this, cadres say the idolization of Ri as the new Kim Jong Suk is “connected to the most painful part of Kim Jong Un’s family.” He said they speculate that Kim Jong Un is pained that nobody knows of Ko’s devotion, with the public knowing only her husband and her children, and that the North Korean leader wants to make sure his children do not suffer the same anguish.
The North Korean leader’s aunt, Kim Kyong Hui, also appears in the video. It was the first time she has appeared in public since Jan. 25, 2020, when she appeared alongside the North Korean leader and the first lady at a Lunar New Year performance at Samjiyon Theater.
The source said that when people “with affection for Kim Il Sung” saw Kim Kyong Hui stand and clap so hard, they were astonished that somebody from North Korea’s ruling family — a daughter of North Korea’s founder, no less — would stand and clap like an ordinary person. They said that while it would have been alright for her to applaud Kim Jong Un that way, she should have not applauded Ri, “a commoner.”
Meanwhile, the Central Committee’s Organization and Guidance Department recently ordered organizations to receive written reviews from people “of all walks of life” about the new documentary film “2021: Year of the Great Victory,” which was released for the Lunar New Year performance.
However, some North Koreans are criticizing the order, wondering who in the world would write an honest review.
In fact, people are said to have responded poorly to the documentary film. The source said people are having a tough time making ends meet due to economic problems, so everyone is giving the film negative reviews, failing to understand why the authorities would make the public watch a documentary of somebody smiling and laughing sardonically on horseback.
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