Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Harmony can be found here... at Mass Games
they switch to Phantom of the Opera followed by Sinatra classic My Way.
Mrs Sung weeps when speaking of Kim’s summer meetings in Singapore with Donald Trump and in China with Premier Xi.
The tears are not because of fears of an increase in sanctions that are currently crippling the economy but for Kim’s safety travelling “to foreign lands”.
She says: “I am always worrying about our Supreme Leader when he travels.
“When he was in Singapore having the meeting or visiting China three times, during his long trips abroad I am always thinking about him and worried about his health.
“This is how all Korean people think. I am always thinking about him.
“My life is connected to the Supreme leader’s life, that is why I am always thinking and worrying about him.”
When pressed on how sanctions – a result of Kim’s obsession to have nuclear weapons – are affecting the country she says: “I will just tell you this… the righteous will always have victory.
“In my experience, all our great leaders always are thinking about the people. They devote their whole life for the Korean people. That’s why they go abroad for us. So we believe if we work along the way for the country, our leaders will lead us to happiness.
“So the righteous will always get victory no matter what.”
Throughout the rest of our stay, guides take us to factories and a farm where on the surface everything seems idyllic.
But, like the folding factory chair encased in a glass box, the constant absurdity of the situations we encounter are becoming apparent.
On the motorway we count exactly 27 cars, 13 buses and 11 lorries in two hours.
We see pristine accommodation for 400 workers at a silk factory – but no signs of anyone living there.
The co-operative farm for 1,300 workers, with brand new flats, a nursery, gym and medical centre, has just two farmers in a greenhouse.
They stand under a red-andwhite propaganda banner that reads “Let’s produce more vegetables to supply the Pyongyang citizens”.
One says: “I am so happy to work to contribute to my Korea and believe our leader will help us prosper always”.
In a cosmetics factory we are shown graphs of how the 300 products made there are “as good or better” as leading brands including Chanel, Lancome and Estee Lauder because Kim has instructed bosses to make them the best on the planet.
But in a world with no advertising, no outside information and a slavish devotion to the word of the Supreme Leader, absolutely nothing is anything like what it seems to be. THERE’S nothing like a few generations of dictatorship to get everyone dancing and marching in unison.
And so it was that I was treated to the greatest show on earth. There’s no denying it.
The parade of 300,000 people roaring a war cry, the sound of soldiers’ boots smashing into the ground, the planes overhead; it sent shivers down my spine.
As a set of performances, a piece of theatre, it was incredible. Then the sight of a man so revered by his subjects and reviled by others, Kim Jong-un, waving as the adoring crowd screamed his name. The sheer devotion was near-impossible to comprehend. It was followed by the Mass Games performance in Pyongyang’s 150,000-capacity May Day stadium.
More than 110,000 acrobats, gymnasts and dancers, four and five-year-olds riding unicycles, all in perfect harmony. As a spectacle, having witnessed Olympic and European Cup opening ceremonies, it was a sight to behold. If North Korea could put on a show like this, where do the possibilities end?
As a finale, the 14,000 children who had so expertly become a human LED screen – synchronised to produce towering, moving images on coloured cards – gave a message of peace.
The words independence, peace and friendship were held aloft. Moving images of Jong-un meeting South Korean president Moon Jae-in at the demilitarised zone were then shown on the cards, drawing rapturous applause.
There is no denying that propaganda and slavish devotion control every facet of life in North Korea, but perhaps there is reason to be optimistic. I sincerely hope so, for everyone’s sake. mirror.co.uk/ mustsee