Several inside North Korean sources have reported to The Daily NK that the North Korean authorities are circulating photographs of Kim Jong Eun alongside his father to Central Committee and provincial committee cadres.
According to sources, Rodong Shinmun produced the special illustrated book following Kim Jong Il’s visit to China and it has since been delivered by the authorities to provincial and municipal committees of the Party.
This “No. 1 Illustrated Book” is said to contain photographs of Kim Jong Eun in China and four or five of Kim Jong Eun.
One source also reported, “A decree has been handed down according to which it should be shown to the people starting next week.”
The source described that in one photo Kim Jong Eun is wearing a suit and talking with Chinese officials.
On this, an official in the South Korean administration acknowledged, “We have received information on images of Kim Jong Eun being delivered and are watching the situation,” while Director of the National Intelligence Service Won Sei Hoon reportedly told the Intelligence Committee of the National Assembly on the 13th, “We have obtained the latest photos of Kim Jong Eun.”
Although North Korea is known to have sent out materials and songs for the idolization of Kim Jong Eun, images have never been circulated.
Exposing Kim Jong Eun’s image is a pressing international matter. So far there are only a handful of known photos; the most popular being one revealed by Kenji Fujimoto, Kim Jong Il’s private chef, when Jong Eun was around ten years old; and one from when he was a teenager taken at his school in Bern, Switzerland.
However, NIS, the South Korean intelligence agency, insists that at least one of the others is the son of a South Korean diplomat, not Kim Jong Eun. Japanese newspapers have also released a few images, but they turned out to be false.
Such special books are published regularly in order to commemorate and record the birthdays of the two leaders annually, and national holidays in approximately every fifth year. This illustrated book is said to be the first one published in an irregular year since one published to commemorate Kim Il Sung’s visit to Africa and Europe in 1975.
