{"id":514114,"date":"2026-03-04T17:03:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T17:03:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/514114\/"},"modified":"2026-03-04T17:03:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T17:03:10","slug":"stone-sculpture-of-kim-jong-un-cements-north-korean-leaders-legacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/514114\/","title":{"rendered":"Stone sculpture of Kim Jong-un cements North Korean leader\u2019s legacy"},"content":{"rendered":"

North Korea has displayed a sculpture of Kim Jong-un in a further sign of the intensifying cult of personality surrounding the supreme leader.<\/p>\n

Huge statues of Kim\u2019s late father and grandfather, Kim Jong-il and Kim Il-sung, are found across the country and are sites of pilgrimage where North Koreans bow reverentially and leave flowers. But this is the first known rendering in stone of the young Kim.<\/p>\n

\u201cA statue of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was recently shown on Korean Central Television,\u201d an official of South Korea\u2019s Ministry of Unification told reporters this week. \u201cAs far as we know, this is the first time it has been identified.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Sculpture<\/p>\n

Kim with his finger on the button<\/p>\n

The television footage shows visitors walking past the indoor sculpture at the National Book and Art Exhibition at the Korean Art Gallery in Pyongyang. It depicts a beaming Kim in one of his favourite poses \u2014 pressing the button on a detonator to set off an explosion at the inauguration of a new construction project.<\/p>\n

The carving, which ends at Kim\u2019s upper legs, shows him in a suit and tie and a billowing coat, and is mounted on a red plinth. The artist has made no attempt to disguise the leader\u2019s rotundity or the chubbiness of his cheeks.<\/p>\n

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\"People<\/p>\n

Statues of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il<\/p>\n

KIM WON JIN\/AFP\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

It is barely life-size and far less monumental than the towering 66ft statues of Kim Jong-il and the founding president, Kim Il-sung, on Pyongyang\u2019s Mansudae Hill. But it is part of a steady trend towards honouring Kim Jong-un with the same kind of iconography as his forebears.<\/p>\n

An artistic representation of the face of the young Kim was first seen in 2019, formed out of thousands of signs held up at a mass stadium event in Pyongyang. Another portrait appeared three years later at an event marking the first decade of his rule. He began appearing in propaganda mosaics and paintings after that.<\/p>\n

\"North<\/p>\n

The amount of iconography of the young Kim has steadily increased over the years<\/p>\n

STR\/AFP<\/p>\n

Among other images, he was depicted shovelling earth at a farm and riding a white horse<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Members of the Workers\u2019 Party central committee have been given lapel badges<\/a> bearing the young Kim\u2019s face \u2014 although these have not replaced versions showing the two dead leaders among the general population.<\/p>\n

\"Painting<\/p>\n

Kim riding a horse at Mount Paektu<\/p>\n

KCTV<\/p>\n

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Photographs of the two older leaders are hung in every school, workplace and state institution and in many private homes, but in 2024 they were first seen alongside those of the young Kim.<\/p>\n

A giant portrait of Kim began appearing in state media in the same year, usually alongside those of his father and grandfather. Last year it was displayed on its own, adding to the impression that he is establishing himself on an equal \u2014 and perhaps superior \u2014 basis to his forebears.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"North Korea has displayed a sculpture of Kim Jong-un in a further sign of the intensifying cult of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":514115,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[76,354,355,49,48,356,75],"class_list":["post-514114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-design","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=514114"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514114\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/514115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=514114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=514114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=514114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}