Is North Korean propaganda playing up Kim Jong-un’s ‘human warmth and love’ to counter Western pop culture?
- Pyongyang’s propaganda appears to be shifting from totalitarian pompousness and militaristic rigour, to court youth exposed to Western pop culture, analysts say
- Analysts see the move as part of a wider bid by ruler Kim Jong-un to consolidate power and to reduce a cult of personality around his father and grandfather
The propaganda shift also reflected Pyongyang’s stance to treat Seoul as a separate enemy state, and deviated from approaches by Kim’s predecessors that recognised blood ties with the South.
Yang Moo-jin, professor of political science at Seoul’s University of North Korean Studies, said Pyongyang’s state propaganda was grave in tone when Kim’s grandfather and father ruled, and stressed the “infallibility” of the country’s leader.
“But North Korea is moving away from this idolisation that is too excessively out of step with global changes, instead emphasising the leader’s human warmth and love for the people,” he said.
In a rare display that would have been unimaginable from previous rulers, Kim in January 2021 admitted that his economic plan had fallen far short “in almost all sectors”, and apologised for failing to live up to the people’s expectations.