Pyongyang’s regime prohibits laughing in mourning on the 10th anniversary of the death of Kim Jong-il, father of the country’s current leader
The leaders of North Korea have never been the joy of the garden and for the next few days they will be even less so. In the country where many freedoms are prohibited, apart from ‘piercings’, jeans, western haircuts and other little things, another veto is now added: for eleven days no one will be able to laugh. Since December 17, the date on which Kim Jong-il, the father of the current North Korean leader, died ten years ago, no one can tell a joke, which is the monda.
Pyongyang’s regime believes that the death of the hero is not a matter of joke and has imposed an emotional mourning of eleven days. Neither laughter nor alcohol nor acts of leisure that move to the celebration, the solace and the recreation. This is assured by Radio Free Asia, a chain that, of course, is also prohibited. It is not unusual for the authorities to be suspicious of this station, which was originally dedicated to spreading American propaganda throughout Asia.
This Friday, the great day of super grief, was a holiday, which may seem contradictory. But in a state in which the best target is the nuclear target, things are seen differently. Radio Free Asia assures that the North Korean sufferers were unable to go shopping on Friday. They shouldn’t have missed it either, at least when it comes to purchasing food, as the nation is ravaged by malnutrition.
This Friday the citizens had a powerful reason to be more saddened than usual: the security agents were ordered to monitor those who were not sufficiently sorry. In the most hermetic state in the world no one opens their mouth except to cry like a mourner.
The father of the current dictator died on December 17, 2011 at the age of 69 from a heart attack, although a year later it was said that the attack that ended his life was not heart attack, but “out of anger”, a tantrum motivated by construction defects at an electric power plant in Huichon, Jagang province.
Raised in Switzerland and a basketball fan, Kim Jong-un, believed to embrace foreign ideas when he came to power, has been true to family tradition after a decade. He has alienated those who questioned him, including his uncle and stepbrother, and has reinforced the country’s isolation, in line with the policies of his predecessors. Little is known of the leader. Because it is not known, there are even doubts about the date of his birth.
The regime commemorated the anniversary with a massive ceremony held outside the Kumsusan Sun Palace in Pyongyang, which was also attended by at least hundreds of civilians and military personnel. As usual, praise was handed out to the Kim clan to the bone. All very rigid and checkered, like the hairstyle of the supreme leader.
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