Kim rides horse to boost morale

SEOUL , SOU T H KOREA» North Korea released a series of photos Wednesday showing leader Kim Jong Un riding a white horse to a sacred mountain he has often climbed before making key decisions. Near the mountain, Kim reportedly vowed to overcome U.S.-led sanctions that he said had both pained and infuriated his people.

The images and Kim’s rhetoric appeared aimed at bolstering his leadership at home as the North tries to pressure the United States into making concessions in nuclear diplomacy.

The photos showed a bespectacled Kim wearing a long, lightbrown coat and riding on horseback up snow-covered Mount Paektu. The mountain, the highest point on the Korean Peninsula, is sacred to North Koreans, and both it and the white horse are symbols associated with the Kim family’s dynastic rule.

Kim previously visited Mount Paektu before executing his powerful uncle in 2013 and entering into diplomacy with South Korea and the U.S. in 2018.

The photos were released by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency, or KCNA, days after North Korea’s first nuclear discussions with the U.S. in more than seven months fell apart.

South Korean media quickly speculated that Kim may be considering a new strategy in his dealings with the U.S. because he has previously demanded that Washington come up with new proposals to salvage the stalemated diplomacy.

“He, sitting on the horseback atop Mt. Paektu, recollected with deep emotion the road of arduous struggle he covered for the great cause of building the most powerful country with faith and will as firm as Mt. Paektu,” KCNA said.

The white horse is a propaganda symbol for the Kim family, which has ruled North Korea for seven decades with a strong personality cult surrounding family members. State media have occasionally shown Kim, his sister and his father riding white horses. The symbolism goes back to Kim Il Sung, who according to the North rode a white horse while fighting Japanese colonial rulers.