ne of the first things any traveler to North Korea notices is a huge portrait of Kim Il Sung, pictured in front of an airplane and workers alongside the road as you drive out of Pyongyang International Airport. It’s an image that soon becomes very familiar. US
PYONGYANG (Reuters) — One of the first things any traveler to North Korea notices is a huge portrait of Kim Il Sung, pictured in front of an airplane and workers alongside the road as you drive out of Pyongyang International Airport. It’s an image that soon becomes very familiar.
Millions of portraits, mosaics and paintings of Kim Il Sung, founder of North Korea, and his son Kim Jong Il, the father of current leader Kim Jong Un, offer daily reminders to the public of the central role of the Kim dynasty in their nation’s story.
Smiling images of the Kims are everywhere you go. Portraits are mandatory not just in public places like train stations, hospitals, schools and factories, but even in private spaces such as the living rooms of apartments.
Portraits must be hung high, so that no one can stand above the leaders, according to government minders who accompany visiting media and tourists.
As the night falls over Pyongyang, giant portraits on various buildings get lit up.
