How do the North Koreans explain the fact that Kim Jung Il has not risen from the dead?

Blech. That is just blatant sucking up. Ick.

Although I probably would have avoided some augustine-level fail in my life with a just a little sucking up!

Kim Jong Un, looking at things. If you found yourself panicked that the highly acclaimed and inexplicably entertaining “Kim Jong Il Looking at Things” blog would become defunct after the Dear Leader’s recent death, fear no more. North Korea has a new leader, but more importantly, North Korea has a new person who likes to look at things.

Although you can continue to enjoy images of the Dear Leader posted posthumously on the original blog, the site dedicated to his successor proves quite promising. Recent entries feature new images which, according to the Daily Mail, were taken during a tour of a military camp and released by a state-run news service.

Perhaps most ironic is the photo of Kim Jong Un looking on disapprovingly as a soldier gestures to a veritable smorgasbord of reasonably edible-looking food. What the image does not convey, of course, is the staggering number of North Koreans affected by the impoverished nation’s ongoing food shortage.

Notwithstanding this or any other of the country’s problems, the new Supreme Leader still manages to enjoy looking at things, sometimes rather gleefully. The blog features several images in which he looks highly amused as he looks at various things, including but not limited to a pool of fish, an air force unit, and his father.

Punished for not crying: Thousands of North Koreans face labour camps for not being upset enough about death of Kim Jong-il

North Korea's hardline regime is punishing those who did not cry at the death of dictator Kim Jong-il, according to reports.

Sentences of at least six months in labour camps are also apparently being given to those who didn't go to the organised mourning events, while anyone who criticised the new leader Kim Jong-un is also being punished.

Those who tried to leave the country, or even made a mobile phone call out, were also being disciplined, it has been claimed.

On what is believed to be Kim Jong-un's birthday, North Korea's state television broadcasts a new documentary on the 'Great Successor' in which he rides tanks, horses and a fairground ride.

The documentary is the second in a week seeking to highlight Kim Jong-un's experience in leading North Korea's 1.2 million-strong military and was aimed at showing that he was in charge of the armed forces long before his father, former leader Kim Jong-il, died of a heart attack last month.

The film, entitled Succeeding great work of military-first revolution, showed new footage of Kim Jong-un in various locations such as military bases, parades and even an amusement park.

The footage, according to broadcaster KRT, was filmed when Kim Jong-un's father, Kim Jong-il, was still alive.

Christopher Hitchens on North Korea, a nation he dubbed “Worse than 1984,” back in 2005:

The U.S. intelligence community has found no evidence to suggest North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is dead, a senior U.S. official said Friday following posts on China's version of Twitter that claimed Kim had been assassinated while in Beijing.

U.S. intelligence officials have been looking into such rumors for more than a week, according to the official, who has direct knowledge of the latest U.S. analysis.

"With that society you can never be 100% sure, but we just don't see any evidence of it," the official told CNN. "It's a closed society, but at this point we do not believe it's true."

The preliminary analysis of the rumor suggests it is part of a "calculated effort to disrupt the economy of South Korea at a fragile time by suggesting things are going haywire up north," the official said.

The answer may have something to do with how Americans conceive of the difference between open societies, like ours, and closed societies, like those of China and North Korea. If a Western head of state had been assassinated in a neighboring Western capital, the news would saturate the globe within moments. We understand that information doesn't work the same way in China or North Korea, that news is controlled and its flow regulated. But the Western imagination often sees Chinese and North Korean societies as something akin to George Orwell's 1984, when the truth is much more complicated.

Information about what happens inside North Korea is, in fact, rare and often inscrutable. Kim Jong Il had been dead for hours and his country officially rudderless when the news finally broke, something that would likely have been impossible in any other country. Key events are rarely understood by the outside world, if we even find out. Last December, a freight train was derailed in a suspected attack; no one outside North Korea knows why or by whom. The hermit kingdom's bizarre and Orwellian opacity has long fascinated the world. The images out of the country are so wild and hard information so scant that there's little to prevent our imaginations from running wild. And the status of Kim Jong Un's rule is still so uncertain (is he really in charge or is the military? does he maintain tight control or is the regime nearing collapse?) that we are ready to believe anything.

But China is not North Korea. Though it still sometimes appears that way in the Western conception, the country has transformed since the days of Mao Zedong, when they really were similar. Though the Chinese state is still one of the world's most repressive, reliably ranking at or near the bottom of every list of civil liberties or basic rights, Chinese society is vibrant and noisy, especially in the capital, where the "assassination" reportedly took place. Individuals may not be allowed to organize, protest, or discuss sensitive events, but they do it anyway, in small ways they expect will be tolerated. If they do any of them too much, they know, the consequences can be brutal. The Communist Party's hand is heavy enough to prevent mass gatherings in Tienanmen Square, but not to keep hordes of witnesses to an assassination totally silent.

There has been international condemnation after North Korea launched a long range rocket this morning amid claims it was a cover for testing missile technology.

But what was supposed to be a moment of national pride, turned into embarrassment when the rocket exploded shortly after blast off and fell into the sea.

It came as two giant statues of former leaders Kim Jong-il and Kim Il-sung, were unveiled in the capital Pyongyang.

The very fact that the rocket test happened meant that the young Mr. Kim, believed to be about 28, was either willing to defy China, which warned against the test, or was overruled by others in the power structure. The first option is worrisome, because it would suggest that, as the Chinese claim, they have very little influence. The second could suggest a struggle for influence, if not actual leadership. In an opaque country that is fiercely armed and is believed to have a half-dozen or more nuclear weapons or the plutonium to produce them, the idea of power struggles makes officials nervous.

“Frankly,” one senior American intelligence official said before the launching’s failure, “I’d rather have an unstable Kim Jong-un in charge than a free-for-all where you are wondering who’s really in control of the arsenal.”

Recent machinations over a deal in which the North promised to suspend some nuclear work for American food aid, then reneged quickly on a pledge to suspend long-range missile tests, at least raised the possibility that such a power struggle could be under way. And despite American officials’ worries, there is one situation in which it could lead to more moderate behavior: if the failed missile launching emboldens those who have long believed in reaching some accord with the West and now can make the case that hard-liners fumbled the provocation, which in the end scuttled the agreement to bring in much-needed food.

North Korea will bolster its military strength, Kim Jong Un said Sunday in his first public speech since being named the country's leader.

The 38-year-old who assumed power from his late father in December spoke for 20 minutes at a rally of thousands to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of his grandfather, the country's founder Kim Il Sung

"We should strengthen the People's Army in every way we can," Kim said.

Kim avoided any references to Friday's national embarrassment of a botched $1 billion rocket launch that had world leaders on edge, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency said.

The roots of the growing tensions between Washington and Pyongyang over North Korea's controversial missile launch Thursday trace back to a set of closed-door talks in February--and the sharply differing conclusions each side drew from the negotiations.

The talks in Beijing were led by a pair of experienced negotiators, American Glyn Davies and North Korean Kim Kye Gwan, and the deal announced on Feb. 29 was initially hailed as a breakthrough in the years-long standoff over the future of North Korea's nuclear program.

Under the terms of the agreement, Pyongyang agreed to a moratorium on its missile testing, a halt to uranium enrichment, and a resumption of the international monitoring of its nuclear sites. In response, Washington said it would provide 240,000 tons of food aid to the impoverished country.

Less than two months later, that deal lies in shambles. North Korea ignored the Obama administration's promises to cancel the food aid and press for harsh new sanctions if it went ahead with the launch. It has instead signaled plans for a nuclear weapons test, which would be a far more provocative move. Either way, the odds of new U.S.-North Korean talks seems to hover right around zero.

The immediate goal of the DPRK is to cut off the windpipes of the group and its followers hell-bent on hideous provocations and blow up the bases for provocations in the land and sky.
...
No matter how desperately dogs may bark, they can do nothing against the bright sun.

The army and people of the DPRK who hold its supreme commander in high esteem as the eternal sun will step up the historic advance for prosperity at the watershed of history in which a new century of Juche starts, while waging a sacred war to wipe out a tiny handful of group of traitors to the last man.

Those who dare provoke the inviolable DPRK should bear in mind that they would never be able to escape a stern punishment.

Police say they have increased patrols around headquarters of nine conservative media outlets in Seoul after North Korea vowed to soon carry out a "special military action" on them by "unprecedented means and methods."

South Korea's government says it is concerned about Pyongyang's threat to reduce to ashes, in several minutes, the support base for the country's president, including several broadcasters and a leading daily newspaper, the Dong-a Ilbo.

Foreign ministry spokesman Cho Byung-je characterizes the latest threat from Pyongyang as “very dangerous and harsh.”

Cho says South Korea's government and military are strengthening their security postures and are on alert to prepare for any situation. He also warns that any military provocation by North Korea will be answered with a punishment by the South.

New York Times April 13, 2012 Rocket Failure May Be Test of North Korean Leader’s Power

UPI.com April 15, 2012 N. Korea's Kim wants stronger military

The South Koreans should send hundreds of thousands of well dressed -- and well fed -- Koreans into the streets and public squares and have them start laughing in counterpoint to the crying campaign of the North.

South Korea and U.S. intelligence analysts believe Pyongyang’s cant highlights new leader Kim Jong-un’s weak hold on power, and the return of North Korea’s military to the fore. Be careful out there: if the over-heated rhetoric triggers a spark that leads to a military exchange, North Korea could be history.