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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Comment
Timothy Cho

Kim Jong-un’s new border wall could be a sign that his grip on North Korea is slipping

Kim Jong-un
‘Kim Jong-un’s giant wall is a step in a larger grand project: to create a “clean” digital environment.’ Photograph: 朝鮮通信社/AP

When I was a kid, I had a friend who was a smuggler. “You tell anyone about this – our lives are over,” he threatened, and suddenly grinned, delightedly revealing his prize: the latest 007 movie, Die Another Day.

Two decades ago, viewing foreign material in North Korea was highly dangerous – and it is the same today. The news that a two-year-old toddler has been sentenced to life imprisonment – because his parents were caught with a Bible – does not surprise anyone who observes the state’s cruelty to those who prefer not to worship the Kim family.

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