North Korea: Son mourns dad, again, bans laughing, even grocery shopping!
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: He is the only one who can laugh at will in North Korea!
North Korea’s Lilliputian dictator Kim Jong Un takes himself and his deceased father rather too seriously. On the 10th death anniversary of his father-dictator Kim Jong-il, he has banned all kinds of celebrations throughout his country, as he does every year.
The media reported that the 37-year-old “Supreme Leader of North Korea” has imposed a ban on laughing, drinking, and even grocery shopping as his poor nation entered an 11-day-long mourning period from Friday, marking the 10th death anniversary of his dictator-dad Kim Jong-il.
Kim Senior, who ruled North Korea from 1994 to 2011, was succeeded by his 27-year-old son, the present leader Kim Jong-il.
Radio Free Asia, quoting a resident in a border city of the country, confirmed the ban. They have banned all leisure activities for this period. Residents cannot even go grocery shopping, nor cremate dead, the report said.
The offenders will be arrested as happens every year.
“In the past, many people caught drinking or intoxicated during the mourning period were arrested and treated as ideological criminals,” the unnamed citizen said, adding, “They were taken away and never seen again.”
Kim Jong Un officially succeeded his father-dictator. His father’s death thrust him into power when he was not yet even 30.
“Even if your family member dies during the mourning period, you may not cry out loud. You must take the body out after it’s over. People cannot even celebrate their own birthdays if they fall within the mourning period,” the resident added.
The crackdown this year has been going on since the beginning of December as the North Korea Police were preparing for the mourning period.
Every year since his father’s death, Kim pays respects at the memorial of his father, but this year the state media did not immediately report any of Kim’s public activities on Friday morning.
“Great leader and comrade Kim Jong Il is always with us … and he is the eternal ‘suryong’ and sun of ‘juche (self-reliance)’ of our party and revolution,” the North’s main Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in an editorial, referring to a revered title reserved for North Korea leaders.
