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NK Media Using Honorific Language on Heir Apparent

Posted November. 05, 2010 11:02,   

한국어

North Korean media has begun using honorific expressions when mentioning heir apparent Kim Jong Un, Radio Press, a Japanese radio station specializing in North Korea, said Thursday.

In a documentary on North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and his successor aired on Oct. 27, the North’s state-run Korean Central Broadcasting Station used honorific expressions, saying, “Guo Boxiong, vice chairman of China`s Central Military Commission, offered a present to our respectable vice chairman of the Workers’ Party’s Central Military Commission Kim Jong Un.”

High-level Chinese military delegates led by Guo met Kim Jong Un on Oct. 25.

The station and Radio Pyongyang also used honorific language on Oct. 29 in covering Kim Jong Un’s participation in a mass rally four days earlier to mark the 60th anniversary of China’s participation in the Korean War.

North Korean media had not used honorifics on Kim Jong Un while it did for the country’s founder Kim Il Sung, his uncle Kim Hyong Kwon, Kim Jong Il, and Kim Jong Un’s grandmother Kim Jong Suk.



jkmas@donga.com