By Arré Bench Apr. 27, 2020
With rumours of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un’s death doing the rounds, the spotlight is now on his sister Kim Yo-Jong. There’s an explosion of Yo-Jong content on the internet and it’s frankly disturbing.
As long as the internet has existed, there have been people using it to confess to having some strange crushes. You need not look too far back in the past to see examples of people taking their online admiration into strange, strange territories. There were people who had crushes on the Marvel villain Venom when the film released – not Tom Hardy, the handsome British actor playing Venom’s alter-ego, but the actual, drooling, toothy alien monster itself. And before that, the release of Netflix’s Ted Bundy documentary saw many people online decide that they would like to get it on with a notorious serial killer. But 2020 has served up its own version of a weird online obsession: the fan culture around Kim Yo-Jong, younger sister of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un and his likely successor.
Big Brother Jong-Un is among the most high-profile dictators in the modern world, and has been the face of North Korea to the outside world ever since he succeeded his father Kim Jong-il after his death in 2011. But now, with Jong-Un having been missing from important public events (including the memorial of his grandfather, who founded the nation of North Korea) since April 11, rumours have begun to circulate, despite conflicting reports, that the North Korean dictator might have died, or at least be mortally ill after a botched heart surgery.
Jong-Un’s absence from the public sphere has allowed his younger sister Yo-Jong to step into a spotlight normally reserved for North Korea’s Supreme Leader. Yo-Jong’s first appearance on the international stage came when she stood in for Jong-Un at the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea. She’s been around for much longer, often seen among her brother’s entourage during his official appearances, and also holds a position of importance in North Korea’s Organization and Guidance Department (OGD), the paramount decision-making body in North Korea. Should Jong-Un in fact be chronically ill, or even deceased, then Yo-Jong is the most likely candidate to assume his position as the Supreme Leader, making her the first woman dictator of the world’s most secretive nation.
Somehow, the fact that she’s a woman overrides the fact that she’s likely to assume control of a brutal, dictatorial regime – something to which the frankly disturbing explosion of Yo-Jong content on the internet is testament. For some reason, this Indian fan thought it’s necessary to tag Prime Minister Narendra Modi while expressing his love for the would-be dictator.
I Love You Kim Yo-jong…♥️
Tm sirf meri ho…💏@narendramodi 🙏 pic.twitter.com/RcxcTwHSvD— Rahul Kr Shaw (@RahulKr03289914) April 27, 2020
A photo of Yo-Jong rushing off on business like a rom-com character too busy to fall in love, is probably the origin for many of these crushes.
Hiya! My name is Kim Yo-Jong and after my bwother passed away i became Supweme Leader of my countwy! UwU
This is me rushing to my first day on the job because I swept in ^///^
Kyaaaa!
*theme music starts playing* pic.twitter.com/FCMMXNyik1— david (@youngdrugabuse) April 27, 2020
This video is just one sample of the many available on the wasteland that is the internet.
A Queen in her natural habitat – at the top 😳#KimYoJong pic.twitter.com/pdKnmFtTps
— Kim Yo-Jong Fanpage (@KimYojong_fan) April 27, 2020
Clearly, this person calling Yo-Jong the world’s hottest dictator never got a look at Josef Stalin’s impressive moustache.
Reports: Kim Yo-Jong may soon become the world's hottest dictator pic.twitter.com/mIeCDDfvSI
— Reverend Calvin Barnes (@VoiceofCal) April 25, 2020
And naturally, Yo-Jong’s transformation into a cutesy anime character did not take much time once the internet got wind of her.
Potential Anime titles
-My Dictator Leader Can’t be this cute
-Juche Live! World Dictator Project
-Youjo Senki
-The World Only Kim Yo-Jong Knows pic.twitter.com/WevJlUHUkl— David Novum Hutajulu (@DavidHutajulu) April 26, 2020
Here’s one sane human trying to be the voice of reason against a horde of horny fans.
Twitter simps going off the rail facetuning Kim Yo-Jong… you guys know there are other cute asian girls that exist right? You dont have to focus your asian fetish on a member of a ruthless dictatorship pic.twitter.com/Q7VVEONnWQ
— Amanda Ba (@amandapandaba) April 27, 2020
The global coronavirus lockdown has had a few strange side-effects on human behaviour, but nobody could have predicted that the idolisation of a potential dictator of a nuclear-armed state would be one.
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