The "Joint New Year Editorial" is an annual event in North Korean propaganda. The current one is especially interesting because North Koreans have a new supreme leader. North Korean propaganda has interesting methods for avoiding the admission that they never saw any actual prosperity under the last Dear Leader. For example:
The great Kim Jong Il was an outstanding ideologist and theoretician, peerless veteran statesman and brilliant Songun commander who led the revolutionary cause of Juche along the road of victory by dint of his profound ideas and theories and unexcelled leadership, and a great patriot and the benevolent father of the people, who dedicated his revolutionary life entirely to his country and his people. Thanks to his leadership our nation has greeted a golden age of its prosperity unprecedented in its 5 000-year-long history . . .Hmm, North Korea "greeted" prosperity? Does that mean it actually experienced it? Later we read
Today we are confident in saying that we, with a great pride in being a victor, are at the epochal point of opening the gates of a thriving country . . . As Kim Jong Un, a peerlessly brilliant commander, is leading our revolution in the van and the powerful revolutionary army and people united single-heartedly support faithfully their guide, the Workers' Party of Korea, the revolutionary cause of Juche is sure to emerge victorious. The advance of our revolution that started on Mt. Paektu will continue without interruption as a vigorous march towards the victorious Songun revolution, towards prosperity.But they aren't actually prosperous now? The text of this thing is long, so I won't try to comment on everything of interest. Reuters noted the reference to people acting as "human shields" to protect Kim III. Readers of this blog should be familiar with that sort of rhetoric. The editorial is mostly like that: the same old propaganda in a currently interesting context.
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