N. Korea: Public portraits of N Korea's Kim disappear (Kim Jong-il in big trouble?)
Reuters ^ | 11/16/04 | N/A
 
 

Public portraits of N Korea's Kim disappear

48 minutes ago

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Portraits of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il have been taken down from public places where they have been hanging, the Russian news agency Itar-Tass has reported from China.

Tass reported the highly unusual move on Tuesday in a dispatch from Beijing quoting an unidentified foreign diplomat reached by telephone in North Korea (news - web sites).

The diplomat said guests invited to official receptions in the North Korean capital Pyongyang had seen only portraits of state founder Kim Il-sung.

"Only a light rectangular spot on the yellow whitewashed wall and a nail have remained in the place where the second portrait used to be," the source said.

The diplomat said officials in the hardline communist state had offered no explanation for the change.

He added, that according to his information, a secret directive had been issued to remove portraits of Kim Jong-il.