North Korean Media Shows Hard-Working Dictator Covered in Dirt

North Korean state media suddenly began depicting dictator Kim Jong-un covered in dirt this week, in a comically obvious bid to make the notoriously delicate leader appear hard-working and deeply in touch with working people.

“State TV on Monday showed Kim inspecting a factory, the seat of his pants smudged with dust. He was visiting a chemical fiber factory in Sinuiju, North Pyongyang Province near the border, and had been sitting on a cement ledge looking serious as he talked to factory managers,” South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo reported on Wednesday.

This is quite different from Kim’s previous media image as a “stiffly immaculate” god-king and his less widely publicized “horror of dirt,” which extended to demanding a sterilized pen and chair for the signing of agreements with President Donald Trump at their summit in Singapore.

One researcher from a South Korean organization told Chosun Ilbo the point of depicting Kim with dirt-smudged pants was to shame North Koreans working at the factory he visited.

“Kim harangued workers about the sorry state of the factory, and by showing his clothes smudged with dirt, the state media seems to be stressing how poorly the factory is maintained,” the researcher said.

The Korea Times, on the other hand, interprets Kim’s smudged trousers and red face as a signal to North Koreans that he is shifting his focus from the military to the civilian economy, in preparation for declaring victory in the nuclear missile race and treating the assets lost to denuclearization as obsolete remnants of little value. This would allow Kim to portray any agreements reached with the United States and its allies as helpful elements of his turn to civilian economics, rather than concessions he was forced to make.

“A simple dichotomy would tell that if he is really serious about a better economy, there could be a greater chance of separating himself from his nukes. In other words, he could and would give them up if the ‘price’ is right. That is the job for U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo when he meets Kim. Pompeo may start the conversation by pointing out that smudge mark on Kim’s trousers,” the Korea Times predicts.

Pompeo departed for North Korea on Thursday for a day and a half of meetings with officials in Pyongyang, reportedly including Kim himself.