February 8, 2023

"North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has given the clearest signal yet that he is positioning his middle-school-aged daughter as his successor..."

"...  analysts say, after a raft of official photos showed the girl holding center stage in a banquet hall full of military top brass.... The photos show Ju Ae, who is believed to be about 10 or 11 years old, in the middle of all the photos — a spot usually reserved for the leader himself. The girl’s hair is styled to look like the do worn by her stylish mother, first lady Ri Sol Ju, and she wears a no-nonsense black skirt suit and sensible shoes. As they walk into the banquet hall, military leaders, their jackets bedecked with medals, stand to applaud. At the table, top generals stand behind the first family, beaming with wide smiles."


Good thing we have analysts who know the significance of sensible shoes.


If you'd asked me, I'd have said those were the only possible shoes she could have worn. If she were not the intended successor, could she have worn stilettos? Something pink? Loafers? I can't picture any other shoes, in any circumstances. Maybe something without the Mary Jane strap, like the mother's shoes? No: She's 10. (Or 11.) But I am not a professional analyst of the politics of children's footwear.

35 comments:

RideSpaceMountain said...

"Good thing we have analysts who know the significance of sensible shoes."

Made of 100% softened North Korean peasant leather. Juche means never letting anything go to waste, and famine has a way of pre-softening and stretching the skin.

Owen said...

“… But I am not a professional analyst of the politics of children's footwear.”

Don’t be so modest! This talent is one of so many you share with us, and we feel fortunate that you do.

If there isn’t already a Greek or Latin tag to dignify the activity of peda-podi-poli-psephology, we need to cook one up.

Rusty said...

RideSpaceMountain said...
Plus! There were children on the menu. Having run out of dog many decades ago. Not free range children, mind you. But the tender ones brought up in camps.

WK said...

Saw a number of Twitter posts comparing recent Madonna pics with recent Susanna Hoffs. Difference between surgery and (maybe) non-surgery. Roughly same age and 1980s rockers. Everyone ages differently and likely different lifestyles…life is full of choices.

Dude1394 said...

I'm taken by the body language. He's holding her hand while his wife is literally holding her hand away from him. Hmmmmm

Leland said...

Oh no, M&M may cancel her now and everyone will blame Tucker Carlson.

Expat(ish) said...

Neither woman can wear heels because they'd be bigger than their leader.

Never be the first to stop clapping.

-XC

tim in vermont said...

Guy is probably sitting on 100 million 6 inch artillery shells, in case Biden is thinking of starting a war, BTW, on China and Russia’s border. If we would stop angling for regime change everywhere, people would be freer in these countries to agitate for change without their leaders rightly suspecting the CIA is behind it. Kim is a king, and North Korea is an absolute monarchy, let’s get over it and leave them alone to sort their own problems.

n.n said...

Military brass, girls in sensible shoes... Madonna has transitioned.

Journolistic filler is an emotional supplement with empathetic appeal.

rcocean said...

She looks very mature of 11 years old. Maybe its the shoes.

MadTownGuy said...

Presumptive successor. Some "Democratic" Republic they have there in NK.

Temujin said...

In North Korea, you wear sensible shoes or your feet are cut off. Except if you're Kim Jong Un's daughter, the lesser Un. In that case, a random stranger would have their feet cut off if she wore the wrong shoes.

Narr said...

Once again, Red royalty proves as unprepossessing as the traditional kind.

Looks like she got dad's legs and cheeks, not mom's. Sad.

gilbar said...

Kamela Harris.. Presumptive successor. Some "Democratic" Republic they have there in USA.

tim maguire said...

She's a little chunky, like her dad, so it's good to know that under her reign, just like her father's, not everyone will be starving.

tim maguire said...

Whenever I think of North Korea, I wonder about the endgame. How long do they think they can keep this up?

Wince said...

Kim Jong Un sure has this whole Evil Dr. Han's island thing down!

In the words of John Saxon as Roper...

"I admire your judgment. Nobody's as loyal as daddy's little girl."

[That's two Enter the Dragon links in one week!]

Readering said...

No primogeniture with the Kims? What would Harry say? Charlotte? Kim is such a fan of basketball. Does he dream of matching her up with the tall Trump son?

KellyM said...

Mary Janes (shoes with a strap across the instep) can be a challenge to wear well. The issue isn't the shoes; the poor girl is afflicted with cankles.

Biff said...
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Biff said...
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R C Belaire said...

Endgame? The endgame is continuance of the status quo, perhaps with a new leader thrown in from time to time.

RideSpaceMountain said...

@tim maguire

"Whenever I think of North Korea, I wonder about the endgame. How long do they think they can keep this up?"

As long as China allows it. Nork is to China what Donbas is to Russia what Kyber tribes are to Pakistan what Ukraine is to NATO...ill-tempered irrational junkyard dogs that serve as buffers in good-times, black sheep diversions during tension, and vicious allies in war.

China is absolutely the holder of the leash, and China has a tremendous amount of patience.

Balfegor said...

Is it okay for them to let her be photographed in public? Isn't it about time for her to be sent to a posh Swiss boarding school under a fake name?

Static Ping said...

Nice to see absolute monarchy still persisting in East Asia.

Anyone who knows the history of the area knows that heirs apparent do not always reach their expected destination.

tim in vermont said...

"Does he dream of matching her up with the tall Trump son?"

Yes, Trump engaged with a man who controls nuclear weapons that could potentially spark a generalized nuclear war, Trump somehow managed to talk him down from dangerous missile launches over Japan. That makes Trump a traitor.

This is the level of absurdity that our leader expect us to accept as rationality.

Kim is Xi's barking dog. He may well be supplying artillery shells to Putin. The US has already drawn down stocks of our own shells that had been pre-positioned in South Korea because we don't have enough for Joe's little adventure in Ukraine. Russia and North Korea share a border with rail links, why not? Is the US going to increase sanctions? Lol. Joe Biden has gotten us way in over our heads.

boatbuilder said...

Evil, evil people.

tim in vermont said...

"Anyone who knows the history of the area knows that heirs apparent do not always reach their expected destination."

Wasn't there a sixteen year old girl who was the English queen for a couple of days before she was murdered?

MadTownGuy said...

At least she's not a woman in "comfortable shoes." Probably not allowed in NK, anyway.

cubanbob said...

She is the heir but who is the spare?

gadfly said...

“Kim Jong-un is different because he doesn’t have any sense of solidarity among the family members and even the relatives because Kim Jong-un was a hidden boy,” the dictator said of himself.

Mr. Kim was the first of his family to have assassinated close relatives, including his half-brother and an uncle. We can only hope that he doesn't get angry with his 9-year-old daughter.

Readering said...

2 spares, one older, one younger, reportedly.

walter said...

She's a shoe in.
Get her to eat her lunch watching torture sessions.

Rusty said...

T in V
It's a toss up as to whether any of those shells actually work. The money that should have gone for routine maintenance went to nukes instead.

gpm said...

>>Wasn't there a sixteen year old girl who was the English queen for a couple of days before she was murdered?

Lady Jane Grey, great-granddaughter of Henry VII, the "nine-day queen" after the death of Edward VI and before "Bloody Mary" nailed down the job. Among many other movies, videos, etc., there's a 1986 movie with the magnificent and crazy Helena Bonham Carter playing Lady Jane, plus a very young Cary Elwes as the lad they hooked her up with (in what was apparently a highly fictionalized story). Before they both got executed.

Apart from remembering her name and the fact that Cary Elwes was in the movie, most of the above is courtesy of IMDB.

--gpm