On the 17th, the 11th anniversary of the death of Kim Jong-il, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un did not visit the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun.

It is not possible to say that the period of dormancy is long as it was only a week ago on the 15th that the public activity was conducted as a solid fuel rocket test, but it was an unusual occurrence.

Today, we will look at how to view Kim Jong-un's non-worship at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun.


For the first time since coming to power, Kim Jong-un did not pay his respects on his father's death.

December 17 of this year marked the 11th anniversary of the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.

After taking power, until last year, Kim Jong-un visited the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun without missing a single occasion on the anniversary of his father Kim Jong-il's death, but this year he did not visit Geumsusan on the anniversary of his father's death.

The Kumsusan Palace of the Sun is where the bodies of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il are enshrined.



Reports of the visit to the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun by North Korean media came out early on the morning of the 18th, and in the photos released by North Korea, only Prime Minister Kim Deok-hoon, a member of the Politburo Standing Committee, Park Jeong-cheon, Party Secretary Ri Pyong-cheol, and Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui were identified.

In front of the statues of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, only flower baskets in the name of Kim Jong-un were placed.


Kim Jong-il's visit to the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun on his father's anniversary is, in a nutshell, the same as holding a ancestral rite on his father's memorial day.

Although each house has different customs, in the case of the house where the ancestral rites are held, it is rare that the ancestral rites are skipped on the day of the father's ancestral rites.



Moreover, Kim Jong-un's visit to the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun is not just a matter of honoring Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il, but is also a major means of propagating his power legitimacy.

In North Korea, the country of Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong-un became the supreme leader because he was the grandson of Kim Il-sung and the son of Kim Jong-il. .

So, Kim Jong-un has visited the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun on important occasions, such as the birthday and death of Kim Il-sung and the birthday and death of Kim Jong-il.



Kim Jong-un's appearance at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun on important occasions such as the anniversary of Kim Jong-il also has the meaning of confirming his good health.

This is because if Kim Jong-un does not appear when he should appear, various abnormal theories may be raised in the outside world.

On April 15, 2020, Kim Il-sung's birthday, Kim Jong-un did not visit the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, and rumors of health problems arose as a clear example.



Knowing this situation, Kim Jong-un did not visit the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun on the important occasion of the 11th anniversary of Kim Jong-il's death.

For what reason?

It is clear that this is a peculiar trend in North Korea.


Because of another event schedule?

On the 18th, when it was reported that Kim Jong-un did not visit the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, North Korea fired a missile from Dongchang-ri, North Pyongan Province.

The South Korean military said that North Korea had launched two semi-intermediate-range ballistic missiles, and that North Korea had conducted an important test related to reconnaissance satellites the next day.



Since Kim Jong-un's most recent public activity was a solid fuel rocket test at Dongchang-ri on the 15th, and it was also Dongchang-ri where North Korea launched a missile on the 18th, Kim Jong-un directed the missile launch from Dongchang-ri without returning to Pyongyang. Observations have been made that this is not the case.

However, according to North Korea's report on the 19th, the missile launch (an important reconnaissance satellite test) from Dongchang-ri took place without Kim Jong-un.

North Korea confirmed that "important test results were immediately reported to the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea," confirming that Kim Jong-un, chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea, was not present at the scene.



If Kim Jong-un didn't stay in Dongchang-ri all the time, why didn't Kim Jong-un pay his respects at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun on his father's anniversary?

Was it because I had other schedules?

If it was a schedule that had to be done aside from his father's ancestral rites, he would have been incredibly important.

So far, there have been no reports of any important events in North Korea around Kim Jong-il's anniversary, but it is something that needs to be watched later to see if Kim Jong-un has had to worry about putting aside the ancestral rites. 

Do not overinterpret

There may be speculation that there is something wrong with Kim Jong-un.

However, overinterpretation is prohibited.

It is said that there are no strange trends being detected in North Korea so far.



Looking at the photos from the solid fuel rocket test on the 15th, the last time Kim Jong-un was active in public, I get the impression that Kim Jong-un is a bit cold.

It might be because he didn't dress warmly even though it was cold.

He may have suffered minor illnesses, such as a cold, but this is also unconfirmed.




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