Next of Kim: North Korean propaganda machine gears up to anoint next leader

[bemildred]

Source: Guardian.UK

The orchids and begonias bloomed purple and crimson across the exhibition's three spacious floors; resplendent despite the different climates the plants usually require.

Was frequent watering the secret? Or a special growing technique? To our guide, the explanation was simple. These were the species named for North Korea's founder and his son, the current leader.

"The Kimilsungia needs high temperatures of about 25 to 30C and the Kimjongilia a milder temperature from 15 to 20C. But our people grow them with their hearts to ensure this exhibition," said 20-year-old Kim Pom.

The result was stand after stand of begonias surrounding orchids, or orchids surrounding begonias, each adorned with the Korean Workers' party symbol. Outside, the flowers unfurl on posters across the capital. Like all imagery in North Korea, their aesthetics are only one consideration.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/12/north-korea-kim-jong-il

[Frank Booth]

1. I can't support him until I know he shot at least 4 holes-in-one in his first

round of golf. It would also help to learn that all birds in North Korea broke out in glorious songs at the moment of his birth. And I don't want to be reminded that there aren't any birds left because the starving citizens ate them all because there was nothing else to eat.

[Posteritatis]

3. I'm waiting to hear that he can also control the weather

Or that the juche of his metabolism is so perfect and unwasting that he, like his father, never needs to use a washroom.

[Javaman]

2. While his dad has been said to walk on water...

little kim as danced!