North Korean Propaganda And Monuments

North Korea has an interesting selection of propaganda and monuments. Though none of these examples below are unique on their own, it is interesting to see them all in one place.

For example, when I lived in the Middle East (UAE & Qatar) there were images and monuments of the king everywhere. Many countries, I guess most countries in reality, have statues of former leaders. Many countries have war monuments. Many countries are masters of propaganda and others, like Venezuela and North Korea, are more explicit. For example, the people wear a pin over their heart. The pin has an image of Kim Il Sung (the country’s founder), or Kim Il Sung with Kim Jong Il (The founder’s son and the second president), or Kim Jong Un (The founder’s grandson and current president). Wearing it is required unless you have a service job where you might get dirty (like a waiter or construction worker).

As you can imagine, the media is nothing but propaganda. Below is a picture of two covers of the weekly English-language newspaper to give you a taste of the propaganda.

Newspaper Propaganda

I included a picture of a billboard for fun. I only saw two the whole time I was there. Those two billboards were the only two advertisements I saw the whole time I was there – kind of refreshing! Apparently, advertising is becoming more common.