The life of a tyrannical, murderous third-generation Communist dictator isn’t all roses, apparently. Kim Jong-un has really packed on the pounds, even as state media are warning his slaves subjects that they are going back to the bad old days of famine. In the early 1990s, as many as one million North Koreans starved to death, and a generation of children were stunted in their growth, averaging a reported 4 inches shorter than their South Korean cousins. So when they warn of tough times, North Koreans mean horror beyond the imagination of rich Americans, Japanese, South Koreans, or probably even Bangladeshis.

Fox News, as reported in the New York Post:

Portly North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, whose hostile actions have brought crippling international sanctions to his impoverished nation, has a new message for the Hermit Kingdom’s starving masses: Get ready to eat plant roots. (snip) [Kim] signaled through state media that the nation could be headed for another famine like the one that killed an estimated 3.5 million people in the 1990s. “The road to revolution is long and arduous,” an editorial in the state-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper said Monday, according to The Telegraph. “We may have to go on an arduous march, during which we will have to chew the roots of plants once again.” “Arduous march” in North Korean is code for famine. It’s how state media described the disaster that struck when Kim was a mere teen, which experts say was brought on by the economic mismanagement of his father, Kim Jong Il, loss of foreign aid and natural disasters. (snip) Pyongyang has ordered every citizen in the capital to provide around 2 pounds of rice to the state’s supplies every month, while farmers are forced to hand over additional rations from their own meager crops to the military, South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo reported.

Meanwhile, Kim is so fat that he walks with a cane at the age of 33. Comparing his official picture that appears on his Twitter account to his appearance at a New Year’s Day address, one sees the massive contrast in his weight.

The old left-wing slogan “eat the rich” comes to mind, although nobody in North Korea would dare say anything to Kim disparaging his appearance or noting how many people will starve in order to keep him fed.

In case you want to have your own image of Kim Jong-un to keep around the house, Barry Greenberg has pointed out on Facebook that you can make a mini-statue of him by squeezing down a marshmallow Easter bunny:

If only North Korea hadn’t repressed Christianity, and if it had enough sugar to make marshmallow bunnies, everyone there could have his own mini-statues of their inspiring leader.

Hat tip: Clarice Feldman