N.Korea glorifying late mother of leader Kim Jong Un

North Korea is stepping up efforts to glorify Ko Young Hee, the late mother of its supreme leader Kim Jong Un, by producing and airing images of her doing activities with her son and her husband Kim Jong Il before she died in June 2004.

The Japanese daily Mainichi Shimbun reported Sunday that it acquired a video that aired in North Korea entitled, “The Great Mother of Military-first Korea.” The 90-minute video is a compilation of footage filmed in the 1980s and 90s, including images of Ko looking at Kim Jong Un when he painted as a child, those of her practicing pistol shooting to help protect Kim Jong Il, and those of her handling Kim Jong Il’s uniform jacket.

In the documentary, the narrator glorifies Ko as a sacred figure, calling her “Dear Leader General Kim Jong Il’s most important compatriot for revolution, a great person whom heaven sent to help the military-first fatherland and the Kim Il Sung people.” The narrator also compared Ko to the “great mothers” such as Kang Ban Sok, the mother of North Korea’s founder Kim Il Sung, and Kim Jong Suk, the mother of his successor Kim Jong Il, and glorified Ko as the “mother who devoted all of her affection and loyalty to the General (Kim Jong Il).”

According to Mainichi, since May, Pyongyang has aired the video for senior officers of the North Korean People’s Army. Even while glorifying Ko, North Korea reportedly did not mention her real name to hide the fact she was a ethnic Korean who originally hailed from Japan.

Lee Yeong-hwa, a professor at Japan`s Kansai University who also heads the civic group Rescue the North Korean People! Urgent Action Network, told The Dong-A Ilbo on Sunday, “There are two videos on Ko Young Hee, and the one Mainichi acquired is the first of the two,” adding, “In the first video, Ko is only called `mother` instead of by her name, and when leaders of the North Korean Workers’ Party found it to be odd after watching this, North Korean authorities withdrew the video.” "The North has since produced and aired a second video in which Ko is referred to as `Ri Un Sil` despite using the same footage.”

Pyongyang’s official news reports have snubbed Ko because she was an ethnic Korean from Japan who moved to North Korea in the 1960s and the third wife of Kim Jong Il.

Mainichi said, “Since Kim Jong Un has been elevated to the stature of supreme leader, the North Korean leadership has apparently judged that the identity of his biological mother cannot be left ambiguous. The North will likely accelerate efforts to glorify Ko on the occasion of her birthday (June 26), but it will likely take time before her career is compiled and publicized.”

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