Kim Jong Il Photos Spark Controversy

A Kim Jong Il photo gallery has appeared on “DC Inside,” a popular community Internet site.

The “Kim Jong Il Gallery” was first shown on the “figure” section of the website on January 11th, and more than 300 postings have been uploaded as of yesterday. The “figure” section is reserved mainly for celebrity and politician fan clubs.

The webmaster of the site has indicated in the official announcement page of the Kim Jong Il gallery that, unlike other figure sections, “personal abuse and attacks is not discouraged.”

Accordingly, netizens are posting composite photos and parody photos of Kim.

Because some pro-Kim writings are being posted as well, however, netizens are raising doubts about the intentions of opening the web page and uploading postings reproaching Kim.

One netizen, “Minjokjuche,” posted a photo of Kim shaking hands with ex-unification minister Chung Dong-young, writing that “there has been lots of praise for Kim in many countries except the U.S., and Kim is endeavoring to achieve independent unification.”

Regarding this, another netizen, “Jinn,” posted: “I do not understand why a web page covering Kim, leader of our enemy, North Korea, exists. The page should be closed since thoughtless children and young people may be affected by it.”

Some netizens posted pictures of starving children in the North, criticizing the North’s human rights situation, and insisting that the web page violates the National Security Law.

The police said, “We cannot punish the website without justifiable evidence that the site is intended to admire the North. We will investigate the actual intentions and the contents of the site.”

ditto@donga.com