North Korea ordered party officials to visit the families of soldiers killed in Russia’s war against Ukraine during the Chuseok harvest festival in early October, delivering condolence packages in an apparent effort to showcase North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s “love for the people.”
“Before Chuseok, the Central Committee’s Organization and Guidance Department ordered each provincial party committee to have officials pay sympathy calls on the bereaved families of all soldiers who performed deeds of particular merit in our overseas military operations,” a source in North Hamgyong province told Daily NK recently. “Each provincial party committee organized the visits for bereaved families on the list provided by the Central Committee.”
The North Hamgyong provincial party committee had condolence packages delivered to the homes of bereaved families on Chuseok by officials living in the area.
According to the source, a bereaved family in the Sinam district of Chongjin was paid a visit on Oct. 6 (Chuseok) by officials from the district party committee.
The grieving family members were initially shocked when party officials showed up on their doorstep on the holiday bearing a condolence package. But soon enough, they were weeping and clutching the officials’ hands.
While families were no doubt grateful for the practical side of the packages — which generally included basic foodstuffs such as cooking oil, sugar and fruit — they took more comfort from the fact that party officials had paid them a personal visit.
Officials emphasize unity under Kim’s leadership
“We are all one family within the love of the Kim Jong Un,” officials remarked during their sympathy visit to the bereaved family, while encouraging the family to “drop by if you have any trouble in the future.”
“These sympathy visits are more focused on addressing the grief felt by these families than on providing them with actual support. The party wants to show it continues to care about the families of the fallen,” the source said.
The sympathy visits appear calibrated to burnish Kim’s image as a loving leader, with the ultimate goal of reinforcing loyalty among the public.
The North Korean regime is using lectures and study sessions as well as propaganda delivered through various media to package the military’s engagement in Russia’s war against Ukraine and the resulting combat deaths as loyalty to the regime and to reiterate the message that the party will always cherish heroes who lay down their lives for their country and care for their surviving family members.
But some North Koreans see the regime as being responsible for the deaths of soldiers sent to fight overseas without having any say in the matter.
“Whatever kindness the government shows will be cold comfort for those who have lost their parents, children, or husbands. Nobody would support their own father, son or husband being sent to the battlefield,” the source remarked.
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