Kim Jong-un’s new style?
North Korea’s state media says ‘Christmas gift’ is up to US
North Korean leader Kim Jongun’s appearance in footage released recently by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) has left watchers wondering about his latest wardrobe choices.
Some North Korea watchers said Kim seems to be building up his image as a young and new leader. Thoughts were that Kim wants to be recognized as the leader of a normal country.
In one of his recent appearances he observed the test-firing of a super-large multiple-launch rocket system, Nov. 28, around Yonpo, South Hamgyong Province, where he wore a black leather trench coat, double-breasted with a belt around the waist. Earlier on Nov. 23 during his visit to the Changrin Islet defense detachment near the South’s Northern Limit Line (NLL), he wore an ivory-colored double-breasted long trench coat.
Such trench coats are a common style of dress in South Korea and other countries but it is seen by many as “very rare” for the North Korean leader to appear in them. His typical garb consists of a North Korean version of a Mao suit or other coats or shirts similar in style to those worn by his grandfather Kim Il-sung.
Kim Jong-un has made unconventional moves in the country’s diplomacy, holding three face-toface meetings with U.S. President Donald Trump, including a historic encounter with him and South
Korean President Moon Jae-in at the North-South border. It remains to be seen whether this “fashion diplomacy” could mean anything in terms of his nuclear diplomacy.
But Kim has been sending carefully articulated messages of congratulations to Trump’s continued patience in the denuclearization process and repeating North Korea’s hope to get wider sanctions relief possibly in return for presenting detailed and comprehensive denuclearization steps.
On Tuesday, North Korea’s foreign ministry warned again that Kim’s year-end deadline for Washington to change its “hostile policies” is coming up.
Ri Thae-song, North Korea’s vice minister of foreign affairs in charge of relations with the United States, said Washington’s request for more dialogue is “nothing but a foolish trick hatched to keep the DPRK bound to dialog and use it in favor of the political situation and election in the U.S.,” according to the KCNA, using the initials of North Korea’s official name.
“What is left to be done now is the U.S. option and it is entirely up to the U.S. what Christmas gift it will select to get,” the North Korean official was quoted as saying.