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Kim Jong-un hat: power goes to the Korean heir's head
In most parts of the world princes wear crowns to denote their status
as heir to the throne.
By Peter Foster, Beijing 9:43PM GMT 01 Feb 2011
But in the secretive and eccentric state of North Korea it seems to be
more a case of "if the fur hat fits."
And it is the presumed successor to the ailing Kim Jong-il who is
wearing it.
By such minuscule details do observers read the political tea leaves
in Pyongyang, where Kim's designated successor, his portly youngest
son Kim Jong-un, has suddenly begun stepping out in the same luxury
headgear as his father.
According to North Korean defectors, until this month only the Dear
Leader himself was entitled to wear a particular brand of handcrafted
otter-fur hat, with earflaps, while his minions have had to satisfy
themselves with cheaper, mass-produced versions, as befits their lower
status.
"It's an unwritten rule that nobody else can wear such a hat," the
defector told South Korea's Chosun Ilbo newspaper, after photographs
emerged of Kim's 28-year-old son wearing his father's trademark hat on
a trip to a Pyongyang art gallery.
"If Kim Jong-Un is also wearing one, it means he has now reached
almost the same status as his father," the defector added, seizing on
the detail as evidence that Jong-un is now indeed destined to take the
reins of power.
[remainder of article omitted]
Oh... ruthless dictators...
The Dank One's acceptance by his father is symbolized by the fact that
this unemployed, drug addicted troll loser lives rent free in his
father's basement in Saint George.