North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un has received a medal from Russia for his efforts at preserving the memory of Soviet soldiers who died in the Asian country. Neither Kim nor Russia's Vladimir Putin attended the event.
Russia's President Vladimir Putin awarded North Korea's Kim Jong Un a medal over Kim's "great personal effort to preserve the memory of Soviet citizens" who lost their lives in the country, the Russian embassy in Pyongyang said on Tuesday.
The pictures posted on the embassy's Facebook page show ambassador Alexander Matsegora handing the honor to North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho in Pyongyang. Kim Jong Un, rumored to have health problems, did not personally attend the ceremony.
The people visible in the photos are wearing face masks, even though the country has not officially reported a single case of the new coronavirus infection.
North Korea is one of very few countries to claim no coronavirus cases to date, despite its border with ChinaImage: picture-alliance/AP/Russian Foreign Ministry Press Service/Russian Embassy in the DPRK
Disputed memories
Soviet troops helped drive Japanese forces out of the Korean peninsula in the final stages of WWII. The Soviet Union also played the main role in installing Kim Jong Un's grandfather, Kim Il Sung, as the first leader of the nascent Communist state in 1948. Alongside China, it supported North Korea during the 1950s Korean War, which never officially ended despite the 1953 armistice.
The memory of WWII is a source of enormous patriotic pride in Russia with the conflict known as the Great Patriotic War. In recent years, Moscow balked at former Eastern Bloc countries denouncing the Red Army as an occupying force and dismantling Cold War-era monuments to Soviet soldiers and generals.
The medal intended for Kim Jong Un marks the 75th anniversary of the victory in WWII, and was presented just days ahead of the May 9th celebration in Moscow. The day is usually marked with a massive parade by the Russian military. Putin had invited Kim to attend the event before it was postponed as a response to the coronavirus pandemic.
According to the embassy statement, the two sides also pledged to continue their efforts to boost cooperation and implement the conclusions adopted by Putin and Kim during their summit in Vladivostok last year.
The Kim family has ruled North Korea for the last seven decades, with state-run propaganda praising Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il, and Kim Jong Un as godlike figures. DW looks at the rulers behind the myths.
Image: picture alliance / dpa
A young leader
Kim Il Sung, the first and "eternal" president of North Korea, took power in 1948 with the support of the Soviet Union. The official calendar in North Korea begins with his birth year, 1912, designating it "Juche 1" after the state's Juche ideology. He was 41 when, as shown here, he signed the 1953 armistice that effectively ended the Korean War.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Hero worship
In the years and decades after the war, Pyongyang's propaganda machine worked hard to weave a mythical narrative around Kim Il Sung. His childhood and the time he spent fighting Japanese troops in the 1930s were embellished to portray him as an unrivaled military and political genius.
At the 1980 party congress, Kim announced he would be succeeded by his son, Kim Jong Il.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo
Ruling to the end
In 1992, Kim Il Sung started writing and publishing his memoirs, entitled "Reminiscences: With the Century." Describing his childhood, the North Korean leader claims that he first joined an anti-Japanese rally at 6 years old and became involved with the independence struggle at 8.
The memoirs remained unfinished at Kim Il Sung's death in 1994.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/JIJI Press
In his father's footsteps
After spending years in the top tiers of the regime, Kim Jong Il took power after his father's death. Kim Jong Il's 16-year rule was marked by famine and economic crisis in an already impoverished country. However, the cult of personality surrounding him and his father, Kim Il Sung, grew even stronger.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/KCNA via Korean News Service
Rising star
Historians outside North Korea believe Kim Jong Il was born in a military camp in eastern Russia, most likely in 1941. However, the leader's official biography claims it happened on the sacred Korean mountain Paektu, exactly 30 years after his father, on April 15, 1942. A North Korean legend says the birth was blessed by a new star and a double rainbow.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo
Family trouble
Kim Jong Il had three sons and two daughters with three different women. This 1981 photo shows Kim Jong Il sitting besides his son Kim Jong Nam, with his sister-in-law and her two children in the background. Kim Jong Nam was eventually assassinated in 2017.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Grooming a successor
In 2009, Western media reported that Kim Jong Il had picked his youngest son, Kim Jong Un, to take over as the head of the regime. The two appeared together at a military parade on 2010, a year before Kim Jong Il passed away.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/V. Yu
Together
According to Pyongyang, the death of Kim Jong Il in 2011 was marked by a series of mysterious events. State media reported that ice snapped loudly at a lake on the Paektu mountain during a sudden snowstorm, with a glowing message appearing on the rocks.
After Kim Jong Il's death, a 22-meter (72-foot) statue of him was erected next to the one of his father (l.) in Pyongyang.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Mysterious past
Kim Jong Un mostly stayed out of the spotlight before his ascent to power. His exact age is disputed, but he is believed to have been born between 1982 and 1984. He was reportedly educated in Switzerland. In 2013, he surprised the world by meeting with former NBA star Dennis Rodman in Pyongyang.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
A new cult
Like the leaders before him, Kim Jong Un is hallowed by the state's totalitarian regime. In 2015, South Korean media reported about a new teacher's manual in the North that claimed Kim Jong Un could drive at the age of 3. In 2017, state media said that a monument to the young leader would be build on Mount Paektu.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/Kctv
A Kim with a hydrogen bomb
Altough Kim took power at a younger age and with less of a public profile than his father and grandfather, he has managed to maintain his grip on power. The assassination of his half-brother Kim Jong Nam in 2017 served to cement his reputation abroad as a merciless dictator. The North Korean leader has also vastly expanded the country's nuclear arsenal.
