N. Korea’s Kim says sorry

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) Often seen grinning at a missile launch or in command of lengthy official meetings, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has offered a glimpse of a different image: emotional and apologetic. At a weekend military parade where he showed off Pyongyang’s latest and largest intercontinental ballistic missiles, Kim’s voice trembled momentarily as he spoke of ‘’tears of gratitude’’ for his people’s efforts. He repeatedly and effusively thanked the citizens and military for their loyalty and for remaining healthy in the face of the global coronavirus epidemic, which he insisted had not caused a single case in the North. That has come at a price: Kim closed his impoverished country’s borders in January to stop the virus, a move which analysts say has exacerbated the effects of international sanctions imposed over the North’s banned weapons programs. The camera cut away after Kim lauded volunteers who helped with disaster recovery efforts, returning to show him laying down a handkerchief and putting his glasses back on, as if he had been wiping his eyes. At one point he went as far as apologizing for failing to meet expectations: ‘’Our people have placed trust, as high as sky and as deep as sea, on me, but I have failed to always live up to it satisfactorily,’’ he said. ‘’I am really sorry for that,’’ he said. It was his second apology of recent weeks: according to Seoul’s presidential Blue House, the North’s ruling party told it in September that Kim was ‘’very sorry’’ over the killing of a South Korean in Pyongyang’s waters. And at the weekend parade, Kim also pledged to his citizens to do better. ‘’I solemnly swear once again in this place that I will live up to the people’s trust without fail even if my body is torn and crushed to pieces,’’ he said.