A video has surfaced which allegedly shows a North Korean civilian “thought to be a party official” BURNING photographs of Kim Jong Il and his mother Kim Jong Suk! The blasphemy is unthinkable. “If there is so much as a smudge on the portraits, it can turn into a big political incident,” notes The Daily NK.

If the authoritarian government was peeved enough to publicly execute a man for simply calling outside of North Korea, then who knows what punishment awaits this culprit, should he or she be discovered.

A description courtesy of the North Korean defector who provided the four minute and 22 second clip to The Daily NK:

A Party official from North Hamkyung Province burned the pictures and wrote ‘bastard Kim Jong Il’ and ‘Kim Jong Eun is the child of a concubine’ on a piece of paper at his house on January 1st this year. The video clip was produced and leaked to display the person’s hostility towards Kim Jong Il and worsening public opinion within North Korea.

“Kim Jong Il is a bastard” and “Kim Jong Eun is the son of concubine” are written on the back of the paper. And let’s also not forget the rather amusing marker-added facial hair. I’m currently in the midst of Februhairy, and even with my catfish-like whiskers, it’s nowhere as bad. Someone is outraged — that much is clear — going as far as to add: “Not once did he talk about being married, and now he is facing death he is suddenly looking for his son? We cannot accept this.”

Apparently, a household’s status in North Korea is determined by the number and quality of portraits hanging about. These particular images, according to the defector, are only distributed to Chosun Workers’ Party officials.

Kudos to The Daily NK, who has opted to only upload screen grabs of the clip, to ensure the perpetrator’s identity remain a secret.

[via The Daily NK]

• North Korean World Cup Fans Are "Handpicked Chinese Actors"
• Imagining a Unified Korea Through Augmented Reality