Following the tragic flood in August that

left many injured in the Rason region of North Hamgyong Province, it has been revealed

that many drowning victims died clutching portraits of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong

Il to their chests.

On December 3rd, our Daily NK reporter

spoke with a source in North Hamgyong Province, who reported that in October citizens began the grueling task of recovering bodies from the floods. One

woman’s corpse was found clutching portraits not of her children, but the Kim

family, to her chest. Many other bodies were found holding Kim family portraits

that had been solidly wrapped in protective plastic.

This news was confirmed by two additional

sources in the same province.

Following the discovery of the female’s

body, workers found the corpse of an old woman nearby who was holding the

woman’s children. “Everyone was shocked that in a life-or-death situation, the

woman had chosen the Kim family portraits over her own children,” she said.

Although the Kim Jong Un era, just as those

before it, promulgates the dynastic myth of the Kim family, our source reported that the moribund public food distribution and healthcare systems have greatly

undermined the people’s loyalty to the regime. People demonstrate loyalty “because they fear punishment, but deep down the feelings are not there,” she asserted.

“The

regime emphasizes the idea that people must maintain life-long loyalty to the Suryong (supreme leader) and his authority. In case of fire or flood, this loyalty to Kim

Il Sung and Kim Jong Il must come first above all else, and the regime

considers it their duty to punish anyone who fails to obey.”

Our source interpreted the woman’s action

as an internalization of the deep fear of punishment from the regime for a

failure to adhere to this appalling ordinance. “She probably internalized a fear of

punishment so deeply that she grabbed the portraits without thinking and ran

out of the house. The fact that it was more than a few people who died holding

on to portraits of the Kims drives home how terrifying the deification of the

leadership really is” she said.

One senior North Korean defector who

declined to be identified told Daily NK, “The fact that many people in the city

of Rason have seen South Korean dramas and been exposed to outside information

and yet still consider the leader to be more important than themselves defies

understanding. A relatively large number of people have heard of capitalism,

but this shows that they have been unable to escape the brainwashing of the

regime.”

In the past, people who adhered to the

principle of worshiping the leaders even during disasters and died holding

portraits of the Kims have been called heroes and held up as examples of model

citizens that all should learn from. However, this type of propaganda remains

absent from the recent spate of natural disasters.

“Because the body recovery is still ongoing, it seems that propaganda has

been largely scaled down. Highlighting the fact that many people died holding

portraits of the Kims in their arms might lead people to wonder if so many

people were harmed because of the slow response (of the authorities) to the

disaster. The regime, in strategizing its response, seems to be considering

this possibility,” he concluded.