The Dear Leader Kim Jong-Il and the Pyongyang traffic policewomen

SEOUL, South Korea — One story about Kim Jong Il, the much-caricatured dictator of North Korea, goes like this:

He is driving through the streets of his capital, Pyongyang, one day and notices a shivering, female traffic officer. Struck in part, perhaps, by her beauty, Kim sets off immediately to personally design and issue new, warmer uniforms.

The point to be taken from this story is not the example it makes of his tendency to micromanage the affairs of his country, his twisted sense of empathy, or his penchant for beautiful women.

The point is that Kim's life is told in anecdotes, nearly impossible to substantiate, stories that may speak of his excesses, his appetite, his cruelty, his desire to control, or his peculiarities.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,219918,00.html


Kim's benevolence to his people is capricious. While condemning millions to illness and death from starvation by failing to adjust his economic policies and insisting on keeping North Korea a closed society, he is said to attend to the smallest things. For example, the press has described his concern for the female traffic police in Pyongyang (who appear to be chosen for their beauty rather than their traffic conducting ability, which is not important given the lack of vehicles on the streets.)

It was on December 21 last year [1996] when the Great Leader Kim Jong Il was coming back to Pyongyang after his visits to People's Army units. On his way back he came to have a glance at traffic control women on duty at intersections in the capital city. Hardly drawing back his eyes from those women, he told an official that he was sorry to see traffic control women performing their duty in skirts on such a cold day. And he said they should be provided with padded trousers....Later he examined designs for uniforms and said trousers should be made tight to suit boots, a visor should be attached to the cap to shelter from snow and rain, and metal buttons should be fixed on the fur overcoat with a mark of shield on the arm....On January 11 [1997] he said that the streets have been further brightened with the changed dress of traffic control women and that they look taller and prettier than before....Indeed, the traffic control women in Korea live in great happiness.
From the book North Korea Through the Looking Glass: Through the Looking Glass By Kong Dan Oh, Ralph C. Hassig


Published: Friday, Jan. 31, 1997 12:00 a.m. MST
North Korea's de facto leader Kim Jong-il, saddened to see traffic policewomen shivering in skirts on Pyongyang's freezing streets, has given them padded trousers, fur coats and sunglasses, state media said Friday.

The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), monitored in Tokyo, said the 54-year old Kim, who is believed to have assumed control of the country although he has not taken on his late father Kim Il-sung's official titles, later inspected the women in their new uniforms and declared them a success."On Jan. 11, he said that the streets have been further brightened with the changed dress of traffic control women and that they look taller and prettier than before," KCNA said.
http://archive.deseretnews.com/archive/540542/POLICEWOMEN-NO-LONGER-SHIVER-IN-PYONGYANG.html


One character attribute important to rulers of totalitarian states is charisma, or charm used to personally influence. Stalin had it; so did Hitler until his amphetamine addiction progressed. Kim Jong Il is said to lack charisma, a character trait often used by alcoholics to wield power. Therefore, Kim is rarely seen in public; his propagandists appear to do all the work, attributing all progress and goodness on the planet to him. However, he shares a number of other traits common among practicing alcoholics: he is arrogant, lacks respect for seniors (a serious breach in a Confucian society) and displays a superiority complex. He is described as conceited, haughty, reckless, impulsive, quick-tempered and violent. He is clearly erratic, unpredictable and capricious in wielding power. While condemning millions to senseless illness, malnutrition and death by starvation resulting from the failure of socialism, he has displayed an amazing concern for a select few: among them, female traffic police in Pyongyang. Chosen for looks rather than an ability to direct traffic among the few cars driven by the elite, he ordered that they be provided warm padded trousers and a fur overcoat in the winter rather than merely skirts. This was reported by the Korean Central News Agency, which concluded that "the streets have been further brightened with the changed dress of traffic control women and that they look taller and prettier than before...Indeed, the traffic control women in Korea live in great happiness." He also likes fast cars, fast horses and, most illuminating, "party" girls

Who knows what the truth is. Just because the official NK news media issued a statement saying Jong Il ordered warm clothes for the traffic girls doesn't make it fact. It's just as likely propaganda for the populace aimed at reinforcing the image of their "Dear Leader" as benovelent, caring and compassionate.

JIMBIALEK wrote:

Who knows what the truth is. Just because the official NK news media issued a statement saying Jong Il ordered warm clothes for the traffic girls doesn't make it fact. It's just as likely propaganda for the populace aimed at reinforcing the image of their "Dear Leader" as benovelent, caring and compassionate.

I agree.

More .....

Kim reportedly takes on "special projects" or pet intrests. In one example Kim was reportedly driving through P'yongyang and noticed a female traffic officer (the beauty of female traffic officers in P'yongyang has been frequently noted by the few visitors to the city and by defectors alike) who appeared to be cold in her uniform skirt. According to the story, Kim was so moved by this that he immediately began designing and then issuing new uniforms for all the traffic officers in P'yongyang. This micro-management is characteristic of Kim. As a manager he is reportedly engaged in the minutest details and conducts surprise visits much as his father did before him. Although these visits are to be surprises, according to reports, workers are instructed to clean offices and wear their best clothes in anticipation of visits, which reportedly last no longer than a few minutes. At the same time that Kim can show such a focused concern for the plight of female traffic officers in P'yongyang, he also appears to disregard the plight of the common North Korean citizen as reported earlier.

By Jerrold M. Post - "Kim Jong IL of North Korea: In the Shadow of this Father", from Leaders and Their Followers in a Dangerous World: The Psychology of Political Behavior.