THE DEAR LEADERS ARE WATCHING YOU<br />
Anywhere you are in DPRK, you will see the portraits of the Dear Leaders. In the houses, in the offices, in the<br />
hospitals, in the subway, they never leave you!<br />
If you look carefully, you will see that they are the frames are leaning forward to avoid reflections that would<br />
make them difficult to see.<br />
Only the portraits of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il can bee seen. Kim Jong Un has not yet portrait yet. They are<br />
sometimes accompanied by a portrait of Kim Jong Suk, Kim Il Sung’s first wife, and the mother of Kim Jong Il.<br />
In this case they are dressed with military uniforms and caps.<br />
They are two versions, one with pictures from the 80’s where the Leaders are very serious, one from the 90s<br />
where they smile. Some say they were the only people who smiled in North Korea.<br />
The portraits are so photshopped, in fact retouched by hand by north korean artists, that they look more ike<br />
paintings that pictures.<br />
The people who marry receive the two portraits and sometimes a third one showing Kim il Sung and Kim Jong Il<br />
chating with papers in the hands. This picture is really bad as it is taken with flash in a corridor office. When i<br />
asked my guide, he admitted this was not a perfect quality picture but it was the perfect illustration of the Dear<br />
Leaders working for the people, even when they were walking.<br />
When you ask north koreans if those portraits are not too much everywhere, they say that as they venerate the<br />
Leaders, it is a pleasure to see them all day long. My guide even noticed that many people have Jesus crucifix<br />
inside their bedrooms in western countries, for him, it was the same…<br />
The frames must always be clean, without fingers marks or dust for example. If you are caught not taking care<br />
of your portraits, you may have problems with the Party or even fined. I noticed that many portraits were dull<br />
because of the sun light on them after years, and were not changed. It seems it was a problem of budget.<br />
The wall where the portraits are hu