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January 8th<\/sup> This lack of a national holiday had been anticipated, and can be attributed to the need for Kim to demonstrate filial respect for Kim Jong Il during a customary three-year period of mourning. This period doesn\u2019t end until December 2014, after which January 8th may well be so-designated. <\/span><\/p>\n Conversely, however, in other arenas the idolization of Kim Jong Eun is developing much more rapidly, arguably outstripping the fortification of the personality cults of both Kim Il Sung and The adulation Conversely, the \u201c12.12\u201d execution The decision to have Kim initially follow in the After the passing of Kim Il Sung in 1994, Kim Jong Commenting on the scaled In 2013, Kim focused on producing results Analyzing these “In Kim Jong Il\u2019s case, he received ample humanitarian aid from the Given more limited Ahn posited, “With the exceptional spread <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" January 8th marks Kim Jong Eun\u2019s third birthday since he took over as leader of North Korea in 2011. However, the date has not yet been designated as a national holiday, and the North Korean people spent it like any other. This lack of a national holiday had been anticipated, and can be attributed to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":122,"featured_media":25705,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wikipediapreview_detectlinks":true,"footnotes":""},"categories":[644],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-analysis-and-opinion"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nmarks Kim Jong Eun\u2019s third birthday since he took over as leader of North Korea
\nin 2011. However, the date has not yet been designated as a national holiday,
\nand the North Korean people spent it like any other. <\/span><\/p>\n
\nKim Jong Il in their respective eras.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nof Kim Jong Il occurred at a particularly gradual rate, overseen in large part by Kim himself, a master political strategist. As is well known, Kim emerged
\nas a leading figure in the regime of his father in the 1960s, and was designated his father’s successor
\nin the mid 1970s. Yet he was only officially promoted to the pinnacle of state power 1997 at the end of three years of mourning for Kim Il Sung, who died in July 1994. The “succession process” thus ran its course over approximately thirty years.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nof Jang Song Taek last December signaled the end of the
\nguardianship system created by Kim Jong Il to pilot his son into untrammelled
\npower, a system that has lasted less than three years. <\/span>Analysts anticipate that historical creation and revision for the purpose of idolizing Kim Jong Eun will thus be further stepped up in 2014.<\/span> <\/span>Kim’s legitimacy over the last two years may have been reliant on the reflected glories of grandfather (and, in the military sphere, father); the upcoming years will need to be driven by Kim’s own history.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nfootsteps of his grandfather was intended to arouse nostalgia and prompt
\nloyalty from ordinary North Koreans. <\/span>In 2012 and 2013, he made 65 and 26 references respectively<\/span> to his
\ngrandfather, father and\/or the \u201cSuryeong,\u201d \u201cGeneral\u201d and\/or \u201cGeneralissimos\u201d in his New Year’s Address. This year he made just eight such references. <\/span><\/p>\n
\nIl stressed unwavering adherence to his father’s teachings. Though still leaning on “legacy politics,” the Kim Jong Eun system has seen accentuated Kim Jong Eun idolization, particularly over the last six months. Songs such as \u201cCannot Live Without Him\u201d have been published via Rodong
\nSinmun, and the title \u201cGreat\u201d has been appended to his name.<\/span><\/p>\n
\ndown references to Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il in Kim\u2019s recent New Year’s
\naddress, Ahn Chan Il of The World Institute for North Korea Studies told Daily
\nNK, “Kim Jong Eun initially walked in the footsteps of Kim Il Sung so as
\nto raise his popularity among the people, but we can see that he is now aggressively
\nerasing the influence of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
\nvia construction projects for the purpose of idolization. Under his leadership,
\napproximately forty different recreational facilities were built to completion
\nin a short period of time, including Masikryong Ski Resort in Gangwon Province,
\nand Mirim Riding Club, Munsu Water Park, and Rungra Amusement Park in Pyongyang.
\nThese formed the bedrock of the self-aggrandizing sections of his New
\nYear\u2019s Address, which focused generally on three sectors: agriculture,
\nconstruction, and science and technology.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nsteps, Professor Lee Ji Su of Myongji University commented, “Although Kim
\nJong Eun worked hard on the construction of Masikryong Ski Resort and Munsu
\nWater Park, they were not projects done with the long view in mind at all.\u201d
\nRather, \u201cThey were done rather arbitrarily to heighten the worship of Kim Jong
\nEun and give him some achievements [to point to].”<\/span><\/p>\n
\noutside during the Sunshine Policy era; however, in Kim Jong Eun\u2019s case there has
\nbeen markedly less external aid,” <\/span>Professor Lee added.<\/span> “Resources are essential to maintain the Kim
\nJong Eun system, but there have been few opportunities to secure those
\nresources.”<\/span><\/p>\n
\ninflows of potential gifts for reallocation to loyalists and the citizenry, the Kim regime has focused
\nprimarily on idolization (and, more recently, coercion). Yet since many ordinary North Koreans are now able to
\naccess external sources of information, it is unclear whether idolization and propaganda are any longer an effective strategy for inducing allegiance. <\/span><\/p>\n
\nof cell phones and the way he talked about the partial opening of the Internet,
\n[Kim] is showing the image of a young leader meeting the needs and desires of North
\nKoreans […] They are betting on halting the inflow of external information, but in
\nthe end they cannot stop it getting in completely.”<\/span><\/p>\n