OPINION

Video stars

But smart, they’re not

The strange videos were all over the media this past week. For some reason, North Korea’s jailers thought they needed to be heard from again, so they released several videos of shirtless soldiers performing stunts. Like lying on broken glass while a slab of concrete was busted over somebody’s stomach. Or the other poor sap who seemed to run into a concrete brick face-first, breaking it in half. The brick, not his face.

Every once in a while, the crazy aunt in the world’s attic needs to break dishes to get attention. We suppose this is one of those times.

North Korean state media — there is no other kind in that country — released footage of Lil’ Kim smiling and clapping during the exhibition. So did whole bleachers full of uniformed types. They follow the lead of Kim Jong Un, because they know what’s good for them.

More precisely, they know what’s not good for them, and they don’t want any part of it. Better to mimic what’s happening at the lead table.

The tests of strength were apparently a part of an exhibition on self-defense in Pyongyang, and Comrade Kim even gave a speech about how he was building an “invincible” military.

North Korea’s army is already nothing to sneeze at. It is the priority in North Korea. The policy even has a name: songun. That’s the policy of prioritizing the North Korean military over all else in the country.

The soldiery gets the first shot at food. The military has dibs on any allocation of resources. The Korean People’s Army can produce videos and stock weaponry and practice breaking concrete blocks with their faces, but many in the population can never serve in uniform because they grew up too malnourished to be of any good to the military.

We don’t know what to make of the smashing videos. Maybe Lil’ Kim thought it had been too long since he’d disturbed the sleep of the West. We do know that the other militaries of the world should be ever alert, ever vigilant.

Because every once in a while, the crazy aunt in the attic will throw a chair down the stairs.

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