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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| Pudgy Makes 1st Public Appearance in 40 Days |
| 2013-04-30 |
| North Korean leader RiÂ’s last public appearance was in late February when she watched a basketball game with former NBA star Dennis Rodman as he visited Pyongyang. According to KCNA, the six-story building contains stores, restaurants, a swimming pool, bath house, barber shop and beauty parlor, as well as facilities to play ping pong and pool. It also has a library and coffee shop. The Rodong Sinmun daily on its front page on Sunday showed a photo of the couple visiting a restaurant in the complex, accompanied by key officials and military heavyweights all dressed in civilian clothes. After touring the shopping center, Kim was quoted by KCNA as saying that it was the "firm resolve" of the Workers Party to prevent the North Korean people from starving again and to ensure that they can "reap the wealth and honor of socialism." "Kim Jong-un has used visits to recreational facilities for propaganda before," said Kim Tae-woo, a former researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification. "This can't be viewed as a shift in strategy." |
| Posted by:Steve White |