Kim Jong Un vowed to overcome US-led sanctions imposed on North Korea as state media on Wednesday shared evocative propaganda images of him riding a white horse across snow-covered landscapes on Mount Paektu, the Korean peninsula’s highest peak. The location and animal are both symbols associated with the Kim familys dynastic rule. Kim has previously visited Mt Paektu before making major decisions such as the 2013 execution of his powerful uncle and his 2018 decision to embark on diplomacy with Seoul and Washington. “His march on horseback in Mt Paektu is a great event of weighty importance in the history of the Korean revolution,” KCNA said. Having witnessed the great moments of his thinking atop Mt Paektu, all the officials accompanying him were convinced with overflowing emotion and joy that there will be a great operation to strike the world with wonder again and make a step forward in the Korean revolution. The images were released days after the countrys first nuclear negotiations with the United States in more than seven months fell apart. Analysts said the symbolism underscored North Koreas determination to stand up to international pressure over its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes. “This is a statement, symbolic of defiance,” said Joshua Pollack, a North Korea expert at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in California. “The pursuit of sanctions relief is over. Nothing is made explicit here, but it starts to set new expectations about the coming course of policy for 2020.” Symbolism North Korean documents say Kims grandfather and national founder Kim Il Sung had an anti-Japan guerrilla base on Paektus slopes during Japans 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula. The official biography of Kim Jong Uns father, Kim Jong Il, says the second-generation leader was born on Paektu when a double rainbow filled the skies. The white horse is also a propaganda symbol for the Kim family that has ruled North Korea for seven decades. State media have occasionally shown Kim, his sister and his father riding white horses. The symbolism goes back to Kim Il Sung, who according to the Norths official narrative, rode a white horse while fighting against Japanese rulers. KCNA said Kim also visited nearby construction sites in Samjiyon County and complained about the US-led sanctions imposed because of the North’s nuclear programmes. The situation of the country is difficult owing to the ceaseless sanctions and pressure by the hostile forces and there are many hardships and trials facing us, Kim was quoted as saying. But our people grew stronger through the trials and found their own way of development and learned how to always win in the face of trials. Al Jazeera
