Had to share this. Just a tiny taste of the bizarre world that is North Korea which is unfolding in the book I am currently reading, "Nothing To Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea" by Barbara Demick. And this is just page 46 of a 294-page book. Boggles the mind. “In 1972, on the occasion of his sixtieth birthday, a traditional milestone in Korean culture, the Workers’ Party began distributing lapel pins of Kim-Il Sung. Before long, the entire population was required to wear them on the left breast, over the heart. In Mrs. Song’s home, as in every other, a framed portrait of Kim-Il Sung hung on an otherwise bar wall. People were not permitted to put anything else on the wall, not even pictures of their blood relatives. Kim-Il Sung was all the family you needed- at least until the 1980s, when portraits of Kim Jong-Il, named Secretary of the Workers’ Party, were hung alongside those of his father. Later came the third portrait, of father and son together. The Workers’ Party distributed the portraits free of charge along with a white cloth to be stored in a box beneath them. It could be used only to clean the portraits. This was especially important during the rainy season, when specks of mold would creep under the corners of the glass frame. About once a month, inspectors from the Public Standards Police would drop by to check on the cleanliness of the portraits.”
Posted on: Sun, 25 Aug 2013 17:36:16 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015