Un's public portraits to be saved 'at any cost' as North Korea braces for cyclone Khanun

North Koreans have been urged to protect and do all possible to keep Kim Jong Un's portraits safe, despite a countrywide warning for heavy rain and strong gusts from tropical storm Khanun.

Portraits of Kim Jong Il and Kim Il Sung adorn every home and office in the country, and people can face execution for damaging them, even by accident, according to NK News.

The command of protecting the Kim imagery was a reminder for the people to always hold the country’s leaders in high regard. It is a prominent symbolism, which the North Korean regime places to reinforce its legitimacy and maintain order.

The country is culturally and economically isolated as many suffer from malnutrition and live in extreme poverty. Many North Koreans go to work every day on farms, in factories, and in the capital of Pyongyang. A large population of North Koreans facing tropical storm Khanun is trapped in poverty.

The imagery of North Korea’s Kim dynasty is not just a symbol, instead, they are considered sacred religious icons. Just like every religion, the North Korean state expects its people to always be ready to sacrifice in order to protect these icons.

According to Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the ruling Korean Workers’ Party, people’s “foremost focus” should be on “ensuring the safety” of propaganda portraits of its current leader, Kim Jong Un, his father, Kim Jong Il, and his grandfather and North Korea’s founder, Kim Il Sung.

The newspaper thoroughly ordered the citizens to also safeguard all the statues, mosaics, murals, sketches, and other monuments depicting the rule of the Kim dynasty, which has ruled North Korea since it was founded in 1948

Khanun, a tropical storm was expected to hit North Korea on Friday, after it made landfall on the Korean peninsula on Thursday.

Natural disasters can have a devastating impact on the impoverished North, where weak infrastructure and deforestation have increased its vulnerability to flooding.

The weak infrastructure and lack of dense green cover due to deforestation have increased North Korea’s vulnerability to natural disasters affecting the poverty-stricken populations.

The tropical storm has already caused floods and landslides in South Korea, with one death reported and more than 16,000 people forced to evacuate homes in at-risk areas.

More than 16,000 people were forced to evacuate homes in high-risk areas with one death reported in South Korea, as a result of the tropical storm. In addition, the country also faced floods and landslides.

“All the sectors and units” in the country were “conducting a dynamic campaign to cope with disastrous abnormal climate”, according to North Korea’s state-run KCNA news agency.

As per the reports by North Korean state media, members of the military and the ruling party had been ordered to prepare flood-mitigation measures and salvage crops, amidst warnings that the storm could strike the capital, Pyongyang.