In <Photo 2> Jang is looking at Kim Jong-il with his hands grasping a memo pad. He seems ready to write down every words of Kim Jong-il. Tension and courtesy prevail. This is a standard attitude of the aides toward Kim Jong-il. There should not be any difference in the attitude from other officials even if he was the husband of Kim Jong-il’s younger sister and one of the power men in the regime.
<Photo 3 & 4> are shocking too. This is a still frame of TV airing the 4th cell secretaries’ conference of the Worker’s Party in January 2013 where Kim Jong-un also attended and gave a speech. Jang sits skewed resting his arms on the armrest (photo3) and even turns his head as if he got bored during Kim’s speech.<photo4>
North Koreans regard that attitude as “very rude.” I have never seen any person sitting like that in the official conference under the top leader’s presence while I had been in North Korea. It is required to show courteous manner to the ruler with the heart of the highest respect, which is common sense behavior, regardless of the ranks.
In the video, all of them in the conference must stand still when required to stand and they must look straight when asked to be sit. But Jang has such an attitude as to ignore Kim Jong-un. I felt that Jang would be severely attacked by his impiousness when I saw that video on the internet. Some of the North Korean people must also have been shocked while watching this on TV.
*** Rimjin-gang
(part2)
* Editor’s notes on North Korean reporters
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