There’ve been a number of stories around over the past few days about the removal of some official portraits of Kim Jong-Il, the dear leader, in North Korea. Is it a reflection of internal power struggles, or is it Kim Jong-Il himself deciding to play down his personality cult? NKZone has some posts on the subject, with links. Now (via Roger Simon) a Japanese paper is reporting that hand-made flyers by an underground anti-Kim Jong-Il group are circulating around inside North Korea:
There are several flyers which counter the common DPRK Party myths and deifications about Kim Jong-il, showing Kim as a spoiled aristocrat rather that a man of the people, with the Russian nickname “Yura” who did not even grow up nor was born in North Korea. Driving wedges between Kim and the starving people, commenting on the rich food he eats while people starve. Saying the “Chuche” Ideology of the North is a big farce which merely enslaves the Korean people. Another underground flyer (again hand written and many copies run off) that is making the rounds in North Korea says “Kim Jong-il killed his father Kim il-Sung”.
Sankei reports the North Korean Secret Police is mobilizing in an attempt to find out who is doing this. They have re-instituted/re-fortified a civilian registration system in Pyongyang to track citizens with an eye toward cracking down on this type of subversion. The flyers also contain detailed personal information on Kim Jong-il that only those in select positions would know. Accordingly, north Korean defectors theorize that these flyers are gaining some cooperation from some people in positions of power in the NK military or Party (anti-Kim elements emerging?).
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