Inside North Korea

The tiny five-year-olds, dressed in pink tutus and bright sequinned shirts, were angelic as they sang in perfect chorus at the Changgwang kindergarten in central Pyongyang.

The smiling infants performed their catchy melody: “Our father is General Kim Il-sung… our home is our party… We envy nothing in the world.”

Visitors to the modern boarding school leave with an image of idyllic childhood after seeing pupils light up at the chance to show the few foreigners allowed to enter the country their hi-tech game machines, sports classes, ballet performances and immaculate artwork.

But the demonstrations also offer an insight into one of the more chilling aspects of North Korean life: a conditioning from infancy to express fawning devotion to the Kim family.

Three generations of the dynasty, from current leader Kim Jong-un, to his father Kim Jong-il, and war hero grandfather, Kim Il-sung, are venerated as deities and their personality cults permeate daily life with a suffocating effect.

But while the two elder Kims are omnipresent – their portraits adorning the walls of every household, factory, school, even metro carriages – the young leader has so far resisted self-aggrandising monuments.

However, in a move seen as an attempt to cement the 35-year-old as lifelong ruler and to head off any possible leadership challenge, he is