North Korea is a patriarchy, but a very strange kind of patriarchy. Its thus far exclusively male leaders like to present themselves as loving parents of the nation, but look closely at the propaganda. They don’t present themselves as stern, manly fathers – but overbearing mothers.
Posters of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il, the country’s first two leaders, typically show them happy and smiling as they embrace large broods of children or warmly hug gaggles of ruddy-cheeked soldiers.
At the gigantic Mansu Hill Grand Monument in Pyongyang, the statue of Kim Jong-il shows him with a jolly look on his face and one hand in the pocket of a casual parka jacket. This is more friendly dinner lady than banana republic strongman.
North Korea is a patriarchy, but a very strange kind of patriarchy. Its thus far exclusively male leaders like to present themselves as loving parents of the nation, but look closely at the propaganda. They don’t present themselves as stern, manly fathers – but overbearing mothers.
Posters of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il, the country’s first two leaders, typically show them happy and smiling as they embrace large broods of children or warmly hug gaggles of ruddy-cheeked soldiers.
At the gigantic Mansu Hill Grand Monument in Pyongyang, the statue of Kim Jong-il shows him with a jolly look on his face and one hand in the pocket of a casual parka jacket. This is more friendly dinner lady than banana republic strongman.