Abstract

Kim Jong Un has commissioned new colored statues of Kim Il Sung featuring a smiling face. The new sculptures take two forms. While both statues feature Kim Il Sung, they each represent Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Un. Kim Jong Un does not project himself as an authoritative leader but rather a ‘popular fantasy’ figure. He is thereby instilling a romantic fantasy in the people that it will be possible to build a ‘highly civilized and prosperous socialist state’ when they follow him. Rather than merely displaying an authoritarian leader who retains power by suppressing people’s desires, the statues convey that loyalty to the leader leads to the fulfillment of individual desires. I find that North Korea uses the image of Kim Il Sung in colored statues to this end. The North thereby uses the statues as propaganda to instigate the idea that a highly civilized socialist state exists within the people, not outside. Through this analysis of imagery, one can discern an elaborate strategy working within Kim Jong Un’s politics and operating through the North’s cultural policy.