South Koreans fascinated by Kim
SEOUL (AFP) — South Koreans yesterday pored over every detail of a historic summit in the demilitarized zone, transfixed by an extraordinary charm offensive by the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
Kim’s public appearance at the summit, beamed live to millions in the south, was for many the first prolonged exposure to an authoritarian figure revered in his secretive nation but shrouded in mystery.
South Koreans and the world have long viewed him with a mixture of ridicule and fear, becoming used to the sight of him presiding over missile launches and military parades, but it was a very different Kim that took to the world stage last Friday.
The 30-something leader was on his best behavior, frequently flashing a smile, making humorous remarks and patting children as tenderly as any election seeking politician in the West.
“I heard Kim Jong-un making a joke and hearing that made me realize that he is also just a human being,” Choi Hyun-ah, a 24-year-old events planner, told AFP.
Kim showed a few brief moments of human fallibility, appearing slightly out of puff at times and missing the soil when trying to plant his shovel during a tree-planting ceremony.
The reclusive North “deifies Kim in a strict, scripted and controlled manner,” the Korea Times noted, but “everything about him — including his facial expressions, walk, gesture, voice, black Mao suit and signature hairstyle — was streamed live by global media outlets.”
Kim was “no longer a hermit,” the paper said in the headline of its editorial, adding he had shown himself capable of “showmanship” with his impromptu invitation to South Korean President Moon Jae-in to hop briefly over the border to the North himself.