--- description: In the wake of the death of North Korea's Dear Leader, Lightbox looks at how Kim Jong Il always presented himself as first among equals. title: Recently deceased North Korea dictator Kim Jong-Il poses in group portraits. image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf5a6b934d95d5603/69879b5235ba6f84acc08986/000_hkg22142931.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [LightBox](/tag/time-section-lightbox/) ## LightBox Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Kim Jong Il as First Among Equals by [Ishaan Tharoor](/author/ishaan-tharoor/) ## Ishaan Tharoor Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 19, 2011 8:50 PM CUT  This undated photo, released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Mar. 20, 2009, shows Kim Jong Il (front row, center) posing at a meeting of active outpost soldiers at the plaza of the Kumsusan Memorial Palace in Pyongyang. This undated photo, released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Mar. 20, 2009, shows Kim Jong Il (front row, center) posing at a meeting of active outpost soldiers at the plaza of the Kumsusan Memorial Palace in Pyongyang.KCNA/KNS/AFP by [Ishaan Tharoor](/author/ishaan-tharoor/) ## Ishaan Tharoor Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 19, 2011 8:50 PM CUT North Korea—an isolated, brutish, pariah state—is more than just an anachronism. It’s a fossil of a dead ideology, shaped and kept intact by an extraordinary amount of violence and control. Nothing illustrates this better than the mesmerizing public spectacle for which the Hermit Kingdom is known: the [Mass Games](http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/best%5Fof%5Fasia/article/0,28804,1734666%5F1734664%5F1734657,00.html "undefined"). Every year, images beam out of the dark of North Korea of astonishing phalanxes of color, of shifting blocs of people who are less human beings and more pixels in a grand totalitarian tableau. The events, like most spectacles in Pyongyang, are always centered around the cults of personality of the country’s leadership, namely the state’s founder Kim Il Sung and his son Kim Jong Il, who died Dec. 19. In a polity where one man is in essence the state, how he gets represented is important. Garish monuments, building-length propaganda murals and mass military parades all help, but nothing compares to the steady tick of daily, mundane images of a Dear Leader getting around his country. For decades, a world starved of access to North Korea has clung to the flat, decidedly uninteresting images issued by Pyongyang’s official press agency, cataloging Kim’s quotidian activities. In some, he’s [looking at things](http://kimjongillookingatthings.tumblr.com "undefined"). In many more, like the gallery above, he’s sitting among his people, a first among equals if there ever was one. TIME has no way of being certain if any of these images are truly authentic; communist, totalitarian regimes have a long history of doctoring and airbrushing official pictures. But the photos above show Kim in the light he (or at least the state) wished to project North Korea’s dictator. The country’s hemorrhaging national narrative of uplift and self-reliance—“Juche”, coined by Kim Il Sung—focused on the muscular strength of the military, the main organ of the state, and the selfless toil of workers. Here, Kim visits a variety of army outposts and factory plants, always positioning himself at the center and at the front, sticking out amid a sea of featureless heads arrayed alongside him. Don’t spot Kim? Try a little bit harder—it’s one of the easier games of Where’s Waldo you’ll play. Accompanying Kim in a number of the pictures is his chosen heir, Kim Jong Un. The reason for his presence is as obvious as it is farcical: a father initiating his son into the same play of symbolism that somehow has served as the basis of their vast, cruel dominance over an entire nation. To the eyes of outsiders, there’s little power in these images. One can only hope the same is increasingly true for those living and struggling behind North Korea’s frozen borders. _Ishaan Tharoor is a writer-reporter for TIME and editor of_ [_Global Spin_](http://globalspin.blogs.time.com/ "undefined")_. You can find him on Twitter at_ [_ishaantharoor_](http://globalspin.blogs.time.com/ "undefined")_. You can also continue the discussion on_ [_TIME’s Facebook page_](http://www.facebook.com/time "undefined") _and on Twitter at_ [_@TIMEWorld_](http://twitter.com/#/timeworld "undefined")_._  This undated photo, released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Mar. 20, 2009, shows Kim Jong Il (front row, center) posing at a meeting of active outpost soldiers at the plaza of the Kumsusan Memorial Palace in Pyongyang. KCNA/KNS/AFP  In this undated photo, released on Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2010 by KCNA, Kim Jong Il (center, in sunglasses), and his third son Kim Jong Un (standing three places to his left) pose with soldiers who participated in a coordinated drill at an undisclosed location in North Korea. KCNA/KNS/AP  This photo, released by KCNA on Dec. 26, 2010, shows Kim Jong Il (front row, fourth from right), and Kim Jong Un (front row, third from left), posing for a photo with members of the State Merited Chorus after the "Concert Celebrating December Holiday" in Pyongyang. KCNA/Xinhua Press/Corbis  This undated picture, released by KCNA on Dec. 13, 2011, shows Kim Jong Il (center, in sunglasses) posing with the staff of the sub-plant of the Ryongsong Machine Complex in Hamhung. KCNA/KNS/AFP  This photo, released by KCNA on July 17, 2009, shows Kim Jong Il (center, in sunglasses), posing with naval officers and soldiers in an undisclosed location. Zhang Binyang—KCNA/Xinhua Press/Corbis  This undated picture, released by KCNA on Jan. 18, 2009, shows Kim Jong Il (center, in sunglasses) posing with soldiers as he inspects a sub-unit of a Korean People's Army Unit 2752 at undisclosed location. KCNA/KNS/AFP  This undated photo, released by KCNA on Oct. 25, 2009, shows Kim Jong Il (center, in sunglasses) posing with staff of the Youth Electric Complex in Huichon. KCNA/KNS/AFP/Getty Images  In this undated picture, released by KCNA on June 4, 2010, Kim Jong Il (center, in sunglasses) poses with workers at a machine plant in North Pyangan province. KCNA/KNS/Getty Images  This undated photo, released by KCNA on Dec. 7, 2010, shows Kim Jong Il (center, in sunglasses) posing with employees during his visit to the Kim Chaek Iron and Steel Complex in North Hamgyong Province. KCNA/KNS/AFP  This undated picture, released by KCNA on Feb. 7, 2009, shows Kim Jong Il (center, in sunglasses) posing with servicemen of the Large Combined Unit 324 during an inspection. KCNA/KNS/AFP/Getty Images  In this undated photo, released by KCNA on May 28, 2011, Kim Jong Il (center, in sunglasses) and his son Kim Jong Un (four places to his left) pose with military personnel working at the construction site of the Huichon Power Station in Jokang Do. KCNA/KNS/AP  This undated picture, released by KCNA on Sept. 13, 2009, shows Kim Jong Il (center, in sunglasses) posing with the Navy's Combined Unit 597. 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