Ever wondered why there are loads of people crying in photos with Kim Jong-un?

North Korea has a legacy of public displays of grief and overwhelming emotion.

According to Yvonne Schulz Zinda, Professor of Korean Studies at the University of Hamburg, it's all about the cult of personality started by Kim Jong-un's grandfather, Kim Il-sung.



In Kim Jong-un's North Korea, many things seem strange to the Western world. When grim soldiers march past the obscure ruler in a goose-step and successful rocket launches are celebrated like the landing on the moon, many of us rub our eyes in wonder and ask: Are you serious or is it just a show?

Kim Jong-un is not an isolated case

Similarly, with the many pictures showing Kim-jong un with his subjects, people often seem to be moved to tears.

Yvonne Schulz Zinda, Professor of Korean Studies at the University of Hamburg, is not surprised by these displays. Emotionality is part of the cult of personality in North Korea started by Kim Jong-un's grandfather, Kim Il-sung. "The Kim rulers are exaggerated, almost godlike perceived," says Schulz Zinda to Business Insider.

The outpouring of grief at Kim Jong-il's funeral reinforces Professor Zinda's point. The theme of South Korean filmmaker Im Kwon-Taek's 1996 film "Festival" is the grief around a funeral, as this trailer shows:

Park Jong-Chul, an analyst at the Korea Institute for National Settlement in Seoul, told The New York Times that the grief at Kim Jong-il's funeral was overwhelmingly genuine. Uncertainty about the future of the country had mingled with fear. But Park also said, "Other North Koreans weep because they think they have to do it, or because they feel they are being watched." So, even in Kim Jong-un's photos, not every tear is a happy tear.