2023-05-24 09:30:54
In the main newspaper of the “Rodong Sun Moon” newspaper in North Korea, leader Kim Jong Un appeared “kneeling”, in a scene that the country had not witnessed in the past.
The newspaper published a picture of Kim kneeling in front of the grave of a military official in his country, which is unprecedented, in which “the supreme leader appears bowing to anyone or anything, which embodied the importance of the late person.”
The late military official is Hyun Chul Hye, and North Korea held a huge ceremony to commemorate him, a few days ago, a year after his departure in 2022.
Who is Hyun Chul Hye?
According to North Korea News, Hae has dedicated his entire career to serving as a bodyguard for Kim Jong-un’s family, and appears to have played a major role in overseeing Kim’s rise to power.
But Hyun’s loyalty to the current leader is probably not the only reason he has received so much praise, as Kim is keen to honor elderly and deceased comrades, and regards them as a mainstay of his propaganda strategy.
The faithful guard
Born in 1934, Hyun joined Kim Il-sung’s bodyguard platoon as a teenager, while the Korean War was still raging. During this period, he met Il-sung’s son, Kim Jong-un, and the two became friends.
Over the following decades, Hyun steadily rose to the ranks of power. By the time of Kim Il-sung’s death in 1994, he had become a member of the Central Committee, marking his promotion to the upper elite, and had held the position of colonel general.
Rapid upgrading
Hyun continued to prosper under Kim Jong Il, attaining the rank of full general in 1995, and even the defection of his nephew Hyun Song Il to South Korea in the mid-1990s did not interrupt his career.
Reportedly, Hyun has spared no effort to ensure that Kim Jong Un is the one to inherit the throne. The frequency of his joint appearances with the leader’s son in 2008 lends credence to these claims, as Kim Jong-un’s succession campaign began soon after in January 2009.
After Kim’s rise to power, Hyun became a vice-marshal, and within a remarkably short period of four years, he was appointed a marshal in the Korean People’s Army, the highest military rank after the commander himself.
After his death, Hyun also held a large state funeral in Pyongyang, despite the ongoing outbreak of Covid-19 at the time, and state television broadcast a documentary about Kim and Hyun’s relationship, saying that the North Korean leader was with Hyun at the moment of his death.
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