Relationship between Britain & North Korea and the actual situation in North Korea
by Chikako Osawa-Horowitz
The British media recently reported that Kim Jong-un, the representative of North Korea, was critically ill, and his sister, Yo-jong, was running the country.
Relationship with North Korea
North Korea and Britain have had diplomatic relations since 2000, and have established embassies and assigned diplomats to their respective countries. However, the British closed the embassy in late May.
Sweden, which has had diplomatic relations with North Korea since 1973, is also removing all its diplomats this month from their embassy. The reason for this is that North Korea has a very strict lockdown to prevent the new coronavirus, as noted by officials. North Korean media reports that there is only one infected person in the country.
British sanctions on North Korea
In June, North Korea accused the British government of announcing sanctions on two organisations involved in forced labour, torture, and murder in North Korean prison camps.
New Malden, UK, where the defectors live
In the south-western suburbs of London, the New Malden district is lined with many Hangul words on signs in stores and Korean BBQ restaurants. About 600 North Koreans live here. They were North Korean defectors and entered Britain as refugees. Around 2007, there were about 20 North Korean defectors living in New Malden, but the number of North Koreans who want to start a new life is increasing year by year.
Kim Jong-un’s Health Problems and Critical Story
Jong-un, who took office in 2012, had already suffered from severe diabetes in 2014 and was shown in a military rally held in the fall. At that time was ill and had to drag his legs and support his body with a cane. Several months before this rally, the government instructed all North Korean men to wear the same hairstyle as Kim Jong Un. This was the recruitment of political decoys, looking for a completely different person with the same face and same figure.
In fact, in October of the same year, Kim Jong-un, who needed a cane at the time, was seen walking normally. However, after this, people with similar facial features but with different characteristics from 2012 were seen. Also, before 2012 (Successor to Kim Jong Il), one couldn't identify Jong-un from the shape of his ear that was seen in student photographs in Europe, and since 2014 it is even unknown whether he was alive or not. This is also the case during in the US-North Korea talks, and the most numerous "Kim Jong-un" appearances in front of the media.
North Korean politics
North Korea's politics is managed by the North Korean Labor Party's organisational leadership, and it is not a dictatorship of Kim Jong-un, but diplomacy and other foreign affairs are driven by decisions by the organisation's leadership. Some say that it is "Kim Jong-un," but many countries have adopted the "Kim Jong-un period theory, which means "Kim Jong-un, which includes the organisational leadership, as a leader of North Korean politics."
Behind the rise of Kim Jong-un’s health anxiety story was the fact that the nuclear agreement with the United States and the problems at the US-North Korea talks were mixed up as was widely discussed. Also, if the production changes due to the replacement of organisational leadership, it is necessary to change the Kim Jong-un period externally. It is rumoured, that in the case of Kim Jong-un’s “death", there can be a complete change in the political agenda.
Who is Kim Yo-jong? Kim Jong Un's sister
No one has proved that she is really related to Kim’s family. After studying in Europe, she was said to have been a deputy director of the North Korean organisational leadership for a long time, and Initially, in the Pyeongchang Olympics diplomacy. She was dispatched by the organisational leadership as a representative of "North-South unified diplomacy" within North Korea.
However, there is no need for unification of the North and South anymore, as there was disappointment in the lack of negotiation skills of the South Korean President Moon, and because North Korea has the ability to hold a summit meeting with President Trump without South Korea.
This is only an “institutional theory”, and no one has proved that Kim Jong-un and Kim Yo-jong are really the children of Kim Jong Il. In a sense, Kim Jong-un and Kim Yo-jong should be considered as "national leader + government Public Relations", and their health issues should be considered to indicate a change in the political course of North Korea.