Just two days after a failed rocket launch, he portrayed himself as a strong military chief unafraid of foreign powers during festivities meant to glorify his grandfather, North Korea founder Kim Il Sung.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un delivered his first public televised speech on Sunday , just two days after a failed rocket launch, portraying himself as a strong military chief unafraid of foreign powers during festivities meant to glorify his grandfather, North Korea founder Kim Il Sung.
The young new leader, dressed in a dark Mao suit, appeared confident and calm as he read from notes before tens of thousands of people gathered in Pyongyang's main square during meticulously choreographed festivities honouring the late Kim Il Sung, whose 100th birthday was today.
Kim Jong Un's words mirrored what North Korea regularly says in its state media, but there was symbolic power in the images of the new leader, who is believed to be in his late 20s, addressing the country on state TV and then watching and often laughing and gesturing in relaxed conversation with senior officials, as a parade of North Korean military troops and hardware marched by.
In the speech, he made it clear that the military will continue to have a dominant role in running the country, just as it did under his father and former leader Kim Jong Il, who died in December. He called for strengthening his father's "military first" policy by placing the country's "first, second and third" priorities on military might.
Although the North endured an embarrassing failure Friday when its much-anticipated launch of a long-range rocket broke into pieces over the Yellow Sea shortly after liftoff, the address today was seen as an expression of confidence by the young leader and a signal meant to show that he is firmly in control.
It also provides a marked contrast with Kim Jong Il, who didn't make public addresses during his later years, even at major events.
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