KIM JONG-UN LOOKING AT THINGS

By: Lise Storaker

‘Kim Jong-Un Looking at Things’ is a series of photos of the Outstanding Leader of North Korea Kim Jong-Un looking at different objects.

http://kimjongunlookingatthings.tumblr.com/

It started when a Tumblr blog containing these photos was created in December 2012, directly following the death of the Dear Leader Kim Jong-Il. The creator of the blog says that it is a “shameless knock-off and tribute to the original blog”, a blog which contains photos of ‘Kim Jong- Il Looking at Things’ (Kim Jong-Un is Kim Jong Il’s son). After the tumblr blog was launched, other blogs with pictures of the Outstanding Leader looking at things were also created;

http://kimjongunlookingatthings.posterous.com/ 

http://kimjongunlookingatthings.com/

The pictures used were originally published by the Korean Central News Agency, which is a propaganda agency that aims to promote the public image of the state leader. They show the leader inspecting various items and sites around North Korea. 

According to Google Insights, it had its peak in December 2011, at the time of its creation, and has been in decline since that. It has been most popular in Germany.

The reason for its popularity is probably connected to the death of Kin Jong-Il, and the rise of attention towards North Korea that followed. Very little is actually known about Kim Jong-Un, and there was much discussion about him when it was made clear that he would become the new leader in the country. The pictures released by the Korean Central News Agency are among the few things available to the public that gives some sort of information about Kim Jong-Un.

Another reason for its popularity is the obvious connection it has to the ‘Kim Jong-Il looking at things’-meme, which was created in 2010 and has been quite popular since then.

Memes connected to it are for instance “what can you tell me about this cake”, “hungry Kim Jong- Un”, and other ones that joke about the leader’s apetite for cakes, his apetite in general, or him being the new leader of North Korea. 

http://weknowmemes.com/2012/02/what-can-you-tell-me-about-this-cake/

http://www.quickmeme.com/Hungry-Kim-Jong-Un/