One of the oldest plays in the North Korean playbook involves making their portly leader look as heroic and awe-inspiring as possible through highly manicured photos.

(They haven’t always worked, mind you.)

Kim Jong Un’s obsessive grip on his secretive nation ensures that only the information and imagery that he wants out of North Korea is what gets out of the Hermit Kingdom.

It’s all about controlling the narrative for the North Korean strongman, and that was no different in April, when the nation produced a number of photos meant to highlight the nation’s rapidly modernizing military.

It included a number of images highlighting North Korean military specialists performing drills, while Kim looks on intently.

So intently, in fact, that he needed a rather impressive looking sniper rifle and its scope in one of these images.

You can take a look at them below:

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited a training base of the Korean People’s Army (KPA) Special Operations units and supervised a comprehensive exercise. ????????

The drills featured infiltration tactics, close-quarters combat, and sniper training, highlighting the enhanced… pic.twitter.com/Qnr22xa9PF

— Global Defense Insight (@Defense_Talks) April 6, 2025

The images recently went viral again, thanks to Russia-focused independent media outlet The Insider.

That outlet pointed out that the rifle being brandished by Kim looked an awful lot like the rifles Russia is often known to smuggle out of the country.

That’s obviously not good, for anyone. Russia breaking rules and madmen having modernized weaponry is a dangerous combination for anyone who values peace.

After all, a well-equipped North Korean militia would be a terrifying one.

Or not.

Look, Kim can look as menacing and brooding as he wants in his leather jacket, and yes, a very good sniper rifle can do lots of damage in the hands of an experienced user.

But the best, most advanced rifle in the world doesn’t put food on the plates of your starving people, nor does it suddenly charge up your ailing power grids.

Last time I checked, things like energy and sustenance also matter to maintaining an effective fighting militia.

Case in point: That snazzy sniper rifle brandished by Kim did nothing to prevent a major maritime disaster that North Korea tried to literally cover up recently.

A ballyhooed launch of the nation’s brand-new naval destroyer ended with a pathetic whimper when the imposing battleship got stuck trying to leave dock and fell on its side into the water.

North Korea’s latest naval destroyer has been significantly damaged prior to its launch. In a rare acknowledgment, North Korea’s state news agency KCNA reported yesterday an incident occurred with a new destroyer in Chongjin, which was close to being launched. pic.twitter.com/0PfuqehYnF

— Open Source Centre (@osc_london) May 22, 2025

It was a setback that highlighted how much more precarious it is to only appear competent rather than to actually be competent.

Again, it’s objectively bad that Kim apparently has more advanced weaponry.

But it dulls the edge just a little bit that they can’t do much besides possess it.

There’s no indication he can actually use it, there’s no indication they have anywhere near enough weaponry to, oh, I don’t know, trade for food for its starving citizens, and there’s no indication that North Korea is actually fixing any of the structural issues that will forever cripple that nation’s growth. There’s just cool-looking guns.

And overturned destroyers.

Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.