Smoking Even at Sports Events... The Supreme Leader is an Exception

[Anchor]

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is widely known for enjoying smoking. While smoking in public places is reportedly prohibited by law in North Korea as well, footage shows that the supreme leader appears to be the only exception.

Reporter Kim Ayeong has the details.

[Reporter]

Around Liberation Day, which North Korea refers to as the Fatherland Liberation War Victory Day on August 16 last month, swimming and diving viewing events were held to commemorate the occasion.

Kim Jong-un, who was watching the athletes with a pleased expression, pulled out a cigarette before long.

He seemed unbothered despite it being during a sports match and with his minor daughter, Ju-ae, sitting right next to him.

It was the same at the Pyongyang Circus Theater, which he visited on the same day to watch a circus performance.

Uniquely, air conditioners were installed only behind Kim Jong-un, his wife Ri Sol-ju, and Ju-ae, and as the performance entered its latter half, he picked up a cigarette once again.

Smoking in public places is an act prohibited by law even in North Korea.

North Korea has recently been emphasizing law-abiding behavior to its residents more than ever, and the Public Sanitation Law reportedly stipulates the following.

[Hong Chol-hwa / Director, Law Research Institute of the Academy of Social Sciences: Article 16 of the Public Sanitation Law stipulates that 'citizens using public places must smoke in designated areas.']

In addition, Article 14 of the Tobacco Prohibition Law is understood to ban walking while smoking on streets or in public places within provincial, city, and county regions.

While a speaker on Korean Central Television broadcasted that violators of the law are subject to administrative penalties including fines, the reality is that only the supreme leader is exempt from the application of the law.

For Kim Jong-un, cigarettes serve not only as a personal preference but also as a means of governance.

When he called commanders of military units dispatched to the Russia-Ukraine war into his office in August of last year, cigarettes, matches, and ashtrays were placed on the table.

Although footage of him smoking directly was not exposed, it signaled that he permitted mutual smoking, effectively staging a display of bestowing extraordinary treatment through cigarettes.

(Video Editing: Chae Chul-ho)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.