Kim Jong-un's "Grand Marshal's Uniform"

On the evening of April 25, Pyongyang held a military parade to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Korean People's Army.

Park Zhengtian and Li Bingzhe, who were purged last year and were demoted to second marshals and even took off their military uniforms, regained their rank as Marshals of the Korean People's Army this time, and also put on a new set of almost black dresses, even with the epaulettes. The style is retro and exaggerated, giving people a feeling of "returning to Tsarist Russia".

What is even more surprising is that at this military parade and a series of subsequent activities, Kim Jong-un, who had rarely appeared in public in a military uniform before, also rarely wore a simple white marshal's uniform.

In fact, this is not the first appearance of this marshal suit.

At the 8th National Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea in January 2021, a giant photo of Kim Jong-un's military uniform hangs in the corridor of the conference hall for delegates to pay their respects.

At the National Defense Development Exhibition in October last year, a group photo of Kim Jong-un wearing this uniform and the People's Army Marshal Park Zhengtian was also hung.

The costumes in these two photos should be the same as the costumes in the military parade today.

This white uniform seems to be the uniform of the marshal. Last year, at the military parade celebrating the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Workers' Party of Korea, Marshal Li Bingzhe, then vice-chairman of the Workers' Party's Central Military Commission and vice-chairman of the Party Central Committee, wore one with embroidered gold and red fringe fringe on the lapel, with an olive-green garland. brim hat.

Kim Jong-un's set can be considered to belong to the same sequence in terms of style and matching of military caps.

This style can also be found in Soviet military uniforms, especially similar to the one worn by Stalin, almost copied from the propaganda poster.

But for Kim Jong-un, the imitation of what his grandfather Kim Il-sung wore back then was a bit bigger.

And if you look closely, you will find that Kim Jong-un's suit is much more gorgeous than Li Bingzhe's.

For example, the embroidery on the neckline, Kim Jong-un's marshal's uniform is inlaid with shiny things that look like diamonds, and Li Bingzhe is obviously a "low-end version" without any gems;

The embroidery on the cuffs, Kim Jong-un's golden star is also embroidered with the North Korean national emblem, which is decorated with suspected diamonds and rubies, while Li Bingzhe has only one gold star.

However, compared to these details, what caused the most discussion was the unique marshal epaulette worn by Kim Jong-un.

However, before explaining, we still need to understand North Korea's military rank system.

The military rank system of the People's Army was established in 1953. At that time, the Supreme People's Assembly of the DPRK awarded the Korean People's Army to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the founding of the Korean People's Army and commended Supreme Commander Kim Il-sung and Deputy Commander Choi Yong-gun for their achievements in the "Fatherland Liberation War", respectively. The two are the rank of marshal and second marshal.

The 1953 version of the marshal's epaulette is very similar to the epaulet of the later deputy marshal of the People's Army.

In 1957, Cui Yongjian was promoted to "Marshal of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea". At this time, the style of the marshal's epaulettes has been changed to "national emblem + a big five-pointed star" after the Soviet Union.

After this promotion, North Korea has not awarded the rank of marshal for 35 years. In 1976, when Choi Yong-gun died, Kim Il-sung became the only "Marshal of the Republic".

The change occurred in 1992, which coincided with Kim Il-sung's 80th birthday. In order to celebrate the leader's birthday, North Korea established the military rank of " Grand Marshal of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea" and awarded Kim Il-sung on April 13 of that year. Since then, North Korea's marshal-level military ranks are divided into three levels: Grand Marshal, Marshal and Second Marshal.

But in fact it's not that simple.

After Kim Il Sung was promoted to Grand Marshal, the marshal of the Republic was actually vacant, but the vacancy lasted only one week, and on April 20, 1992, two more marshals were promoted. One is Kim Il-sung's successor, Kim Jong-il, who was the first vice-chairman of the National Defense Commission at the time, and the other is Second Marshal Oh Jin-woo, Minister of People's Armed Forces.

According to Rodong Sinmun at the time, both were awarded the military rank of " Marshal of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea".

However, when Wu Zhenyu died three years later in 1995, his title of marshal had been downgraded to " Marshal of the People's Army ", probably in order to differentiate himself from Kim Jong Il, who had "inherited the great rule", so that the "great leader" could be independent. Enjoy the honor of "Marshal of the Republic".

And this change has also been continued, and Cui Guang, Li Yixue, Jin Yongchun, Xuan Zhehai, Li Bingzhe, and Park Zhengtian who were promoted later are only "Marshals of the People's Army".

Kim Jong-il died in December 2011, and he was posthumously awarded the " Grand Marshal of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea" in February the following year, allowing him to stand shoulder to shoulder with his father. In front of his crystal coffin, the epaulette of the Grand Marshal was also placed.

In July 2012, Kim Jong-un, his heir, was awarded the " Marshal of the Republic ", making this rank exclusive to the supreme leader.

The reason why Kim Jong-un's epaulettes are noticeable this time is that he was originally a "Marshal of the Republic", but he wore a epaulet that was suspected of being a "Grand Marshal", and the North Korean official media still called him "Marshal" when reporting. ”, and there was no announcement of promotion, which led to speculation.

Here I have to talk about the difference between the rank symbols of the Grand Marshal, the Marshal of the Republic and the Marshal of the People's Army.

The epaulette of the " Grand Marshal of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea" has the national emblem of the DPRK on the top and the marshal's star emblem surrounded by a wreath of the Korean national flower Mulan (목란) on the bottom.

This style was also obviously influenced by the epaulettes of the Soviet Grand Marshal and the Generalissimo of the People's Republic of China. The epaulettes that were to be awarded to Mao Zedong at that time were "the marshal star emblem is surrounded by a circle of pine branches, and the two national emblems on the epaulets are pure gold".

The military rank symbol of " Marshal of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea" is simplified based on the symbol of the Grand Marshal.

The national emblem and the marshal star emblem are still there, but there is only half a circle of Mulan surrounding the big star. The difference between it and the epaulets of the Grand Marshal is somewhat similar to the difference between the Chief Superintendent and the Deputy Chief Superintendent in the Chinese police rank logo.

Since Kim Jong-il hardly wore formal military uniforms when he was alive, the logo is currently only visible on his portrait. Such as this ↓

And this ↓ can be said to be the most rare military rank symbol in North Korea.

The symbol of the " Marshal of the Korean People's Army " is very conventional, and the combination of the national emblem and the marshal star is also a common practice for many armies influenced by Soviet-style military rank.

So the question arises. Normally, Kim Jong-un should wear the epaulette of "National Emblem + Marshal's Star surrounded by a half circle of Mulan", but now the epaulette he wears can obviously get the Marshal's star and is surrounded by a circle, and Kim Il-sung's epaulette The Grand Marshal's epaulettes are almost identical.

Since there is no official announcement, it is still unclear whether Kim Jong-un has promoted himself to the position of Grand Marshal or changed the style of the "Marshal of the Republic" epaulette.

If it is the former, it is hard not to give the impression of being "arrogant". After all, it is understandable that Kim Il Sung, as the "Founding King", was awarded the Grand Marshal while he was alive, and even Kim Jong Il is only after his death. Grant.

이휘성, the chief researcher of Kookmin University, said in the article :

"The North Korean leader must live as a dutiful son of a dutiful son. But looking at Kim Jong-un's actions, it seems that he is not filial enough."

Compared with Kim Jong-il's "three years of filial piety" for Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong-un took office almost immediately; after announcing his father as "the permanent chairman of the National Defense Committee", he gave himself the title of "first chairman"; 2012 In 2018 he declared his father "the eternal general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea", but in 2021 he "resurrected" the title and bestowed it on himself.

From this point of view, it does not seem incomprehensible to give himself the title of "Grand Marshal", and the message conveyed is Kim Jong-un's ambition to surpass his father's ancestors.

Reference:

• Notes | A Brief History of Changes in the Ranks of the Korean People's Army (qq.com)
• Let's talk about the new dress of the North Korean marshal... (qq.com)
• Marshal of North Korea — Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (wikipedia.org)
• 원수(계급) — 나무위키(namu.wiki)
• KCNA Watch
• “North, '공화국원수' 한명더있었다” (news1.kr)
• [북한어제와오늘] '공화국원수' 계급장변화와김정은속내| DailyNK
• Kim Jong Un suits up in military uniform for never-before-seen portrait | NK News
• 70년전김일성처럼…김정은의'원수복' 첫선(kbs.co.kr)
• Possibility of conferring the title of "Grand Marshal" on Jong Eun of North Korea = South Korean intelligence agency | Joint ニュース (yna.co.kr)
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