The newspaper published a photo of Kim kneeling before the grave of a military official in his country, which is unprecedented, in which “the supreme leader appears bowing to anyone or anything, which embodied the importance of the deceased”.
The late military official is Hyun Chul Hye, and North Korea held a grand ceremony to commemorate him a few days ago, a year after he left in 2022.
Who is Hyun Chul Hye?
According to North Korea News, Hae has devoted his entire career to serving as a bodyguard for Kim Jong-un’s family and appears to have played a major role in overseeing Kim’s rise to power.
But Hyun’s loyalty to the current leader is probably not the only reason he has received so much praise, as Kim is keen to honor his aged and deceased comrades and sees them as a mainstay of his propaganda strategy.
The faithful guardian
Born in 1934, Hyun joined Kim Il-sung’s bodyguard platoon as a teenager while the Korean War was still raging. During this period, he met Il-sung’s son, Kim Jong-un, and the two became friends.
Over the following decades, Hyun steadily rose to the ranks of power. By the time of Kim Il-sung’s death in 1994, he had become a member of the Central Committee, marking his promotion to the top elite, and served as colonel general.
Quick upgrade
Hyun continued to thrive under Kim Jong Il, reaching the rank of general in 1995, and even his nephew Hyun Song Il’s defection to South Korea in the mid-1990s did not interrupt his career.
Apparently, Hyun spared no effort to ensure Kim Jong Un was the one to inherit the throne. The frequency of his joint appearances with the leader’s son in 2008 lends credence to these claims, as Kim Jong-un’s succession campaign began soon after in January 2009.
After Kim came to power, Hyun became a vice-marshal, and in a remarkably short four-year period, he was appointed a field marshal in the Korean People’s Army, the highest military rank after commander himself. .
After his death, Hyun also held a large state funeral in Pyongyang, despite the ongoing Covid-19 outbreak at the time, and state television aired a documentary about Kim and Hyun’s relationship, claiming that the North Korean leader was with Hyun at the moment. of his death.
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