North Korea remains one of the world’s most repressive states.

In his eighth year in power, Kim Jong Un, who serves as chairman of the States Affairs Commission and head of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea, continues to exercise almost total political control.

When he’s not inspecting things,  Kim Jong Un strokes his own ego by firing missiles to show the world North Korea’s nuclear strength. This prompted America to get involved in talks about its missile program.

So far Washington and Pyongyang have made little progress in their discussions about dismantling North Korea’s nuclear and missile program. According to CNBC, the two sides abruptly ended a February summit in Vietnam as Donald Trump and Kim left without the “deal” that the US president promised he’d secure.

Then, last Thursday, North Korea fired two short-range projectiles into the sea off its east coast. Chilled.

Meanwhile, work has been underway on Kim Jong Un’s signature construction project, a “socialist utopia” that faced multiple delays due to a shortage of materials and labour, due to sanctions imposed on the country because of its nuclear programme.

It’s now complete and the North Korean leader unveiled it, with the media calling it (probably under duress) the “epitome of modern civilisation”.

Per Al Jazeera:

A large celebration involving fireworks was held at the city near Mount Paektu on Monday, the official KCNA news agency said. The Rodong Sinmun, a governing party mouthpiece, ran photos showing Kim smiling as he cut a ribbon at the ceremony amid buildings covered in snow.

The city, named Samjiyon, is envisaged as a “socialist utopia” with new apartments, hotels, a ski resort and commercial, cultural and medical facilities.

KCNA said it could accommodate 4,000 families and has 380 blocks of public and industrial buildings in “hundreds of hectares”.

The city is one of the largest economic initiatives from Kim, who wants to secure North Korea’s future by building a “self-reliant economy”. If you’re wondering how he managed to complete the project despite the sanctions, we have two words: slave labour.

Delays in construction prompted the Kim regime to mobilise youth labour brigades, which defectors and human rights activists likened to “slave labour” as they get no pay, poor food and are forced to work more than 12 hours a day for up to 10 years in return for better chances to enter a university or join the all-powerful Workers’ Party of Korea.

That’s not how I’d describe “modern civilisation” or a “utopia”.

Then again, if you look into the etymology of the word ‘utopia’, it comes from the Greek topos which means place, and ou which translates as ‘not’. So a utopia is a place that is not a place. A utopia, by definition, doesn’t exist.

It’s a good description of the facade and fantasy that Kim has built – a set of shiny new buildings to hide a brutal dictatorship.

[source:cnbc&aljazeera]