[imagesource: Reuters]

There’s a Lonely Island sketch from 2009 about how Cool Guys Don’t Look At Explosions.

In North Korea, cool guys wear shades and leather jackets as they walk away from intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).

Preferably in slow-motion, with a few watch checks thrown in for good measure.

The dictatorship’s latest TV spectacle was broadcast on March 24 and featured Kim ordering his army to let rip with an ICBM.

You’ll be pleased to know we have that footage:

Wow, so manly. I preferred that horse riding video – it just felt more genuine.

Funnily enough, Bloomberg reports that the above video was actually released eight days after a failed missile launch near Pyongyang’s international airport and features footage from two different launches spliced together.

What is clear, though, is that North Korea’s leader is getting a bit of a ‘Hollywood makeover’:

Since taking power a decade ago, Kim has introduced new looks to state television, including drone footage, computer graphics, music video-style cuts and made-for-TV moments…

“Slick videos like the ICBM test footage translate into the credibility of the information it portrays,” said Kang Mi-jin, a North Korean defector who runs a company in South Korea that tracks the economy of her former home.

Some of the techniques are straight out of Tinseltown’s playbook, including a camera rigged to a rocket and movie trailer style videos that place Kim at the centre of the action.

In years gone by, he has often been shown watching through binoculars from a safe vantage point.

Image: Reuters

The same cannot be said for site inspections. The man can’t get enough.

Enter the drones:

In September, North Korea unveiled a new missile-launch system that could be fired from a train car. Drones flying overhead and cameras positioned around the train were used to capture the missile from multiple angles, from the moment it is unsheathed from a train carriage’s roof flap to the moment it’s shot into the sky, leaving behind a trail of flame and smoke. That marked the first time it gave a ballistic missile test the Hollywood treatment.

Around three years ago, North Korea went HD with its propaganda footage and began using better graphics and younger reporters dressed in ‘more fashionable’ clothing.

I propose that Kim Jong Un follows this 2015 Paris Fashion Week trend. Make it happen.

[source:bloomberg]