North Korea Backs Leader ‘Unto Death’

Kim Jong-un, second from left, visited a tank division in a photograph released Sunday by North Korea's official news agency. (Kcna, via Reuters)

January 1, 2012
By CHOE SANG-HUN
The New York Times

SEOUL, South Korea — Using nationalist language about “socialist fairylands” in the North and an “unethical and antinational” government in the South, North Korea issued a New Year’s Day statement on Sunday that sought to cement support for the country’s young new leader, Kim Jong-un.

“The whole party, the entire army and all the people should possess a firm conviction that they will become human bulwarks and human shields in defending Kim Jong-un unto death,” urged an editorial carried by the official newspapers of the Workers’ Party, the Korean People’s Army and the Socialist Youth League.

The annual editorial, roughly equivalent to the State of the Union speech in the United States, is scrutinized by analysts for clues to the reclusive country’s direction. This year’s editorial, appearing just two week after Mr. Kim succeeded his father, Kim Jong-il, emphasized continuity and effusively saluted the young Mr. Kim as a worthy successor.

In a line clearly intended as a compliment, the editorial said, “The dear respected Kim Jong-un is precisely the great Kim Jong-il.”

The statement vowed to improve the economy of the impoverished, authoritarian country and exhorted the people to revolutionize the farm industry, increase coal production and improve the performance of light industry. While acknowledging that the nation’s food crisis remained a “burning issue,” the editorial said that North Korea was “at the epochal point of opening the gates of a thriving country,” with parts of Pyongyang, the capital, “turned into socialist fairylands.”

But it provided few specifics on how the government would turn the economy around.

South Korea issued a report analyzing the editorial, saying that “rather than offering a new policy, North Korea is sticking to its old policy line under the pretext of honoring the dying wishes of Kim Jong-il.”

Cheong Seong-chang, an analyst at Sejong Institute, said the editorial showed that North Korea’s real focus this year would be on building “a Stalinist monolithic dictatorial system” around Kim Jong-un.

“With an intense workload at home, the regime is unlikely to try to improve ties with South Korea or the external world,” he added.

The editorial called South Korea’s government “unethical and antinational” for failing to express official condolences over the death of Kim Jong-il, who ruled for 17 years. It said relations between the two Koreas would not improve as long as Lee Myung-bak remained president of South Korea.

President Lee, in his nationally televised New Year’s speech on Monday, warned that his government would “deal strongly with any provocations” from North Korea.

“It is South and North Korea, before any one else, that must try to achieve the task of building peace, security and reunification on the Korean Peninsula," Mr. Lee said, keeping open the possibility of inter-Korean talks despite North Korea’s repeated statements that it had no intention of dealing with his government.

North Korea also released an annual list of propaganda slogans that will adorn walls and billboards throughout the country. One of them threatened to turn the Blue House, the presidential office in Seoul, into a “sea of fire” if the South provoked the North.

The editorial did not dwell on North Korea’s troubled relations with the United States over its nuclear weapons program. But it demanded that Washington withdraw its 28,500 “imperialist invasion troops” from South Korea.

Kim Jong-un received a crucial endorsement from China on Saturday, when President Hu Jintao congratulated him on his appointment as supreme military leader.

“The traditional friendly cooperation between China and North Korea is sure to constantly consolidate and strengthen,” Mr. Hu said, according to a statement on a Chinese government Web site.

But as much as any policy, the editorial focused on Mr. Kim, who is believed to be in his late 20s, calling for his “monolithic leadership.”

North Korea confirmed Mr. Kim as its top leader over the weekend, and on Friday it made him supreme commander of its 1.2 million-strong military, a move considered crucial to protecting his power. Mr. Kim is expected to gather more titles, including general secretary of the party and chairman of the National Defense Commission.

Some analysts see the rush to pile on titles so soon after the death of his father as a sign of insecurity. The strident language directed toward the South, they said, may be also a sign that the government is using tensions with the outside world to rally its military and people behind the new leader.

Mr. Kim, in his first public action as top leader, inspected the crack Ryu Kyong-su tank division as it trained, said the North’s official news agency. The tank unit is famous as the first to charge into Seoul after North Korea started the Korean War in 1950.