SEOUL: North Korea has displayed a portrait of Kim Jong-un in public for the first time, with analysts saying the move could herald the building of a personality cult around the young leader.

Idealised portraits of Kim’s grandfather and father — the North’s founder Kim II Sung and his son and successor Kim Jong II — are ubiquitous throughout the country.

But while the current leader’s daily activities and photographs of him are the mainstay of state media, in wider society he is not portrayed in the same omnipresent way, and no statue of him is so far known to exist.

That could be beginning to change, analysts said, after the visit of Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel at the weekend. When Kim met him at Pyongyang International Airport separate giant portraits of the two men hung on the outside of the building, pictures showed.

“It’s the first time that such a portrait was displayed in a public place,” said Cho Han-bum, an analyst at the South’s state-run Korea Institute for National Unification.

Cho said the public display indicated Kim appeared to be entering a “second term” of his leadership, which would concentrate on strengthening his political authority and charisma.

Published in Dawn, November 7th, 2018