Hannah Hecht's Blog

The profile that I read was an Atlantic story by Adam Cathcart that focused on Kim Jong Un. It was kind of an interesting example of a profile, because, unlike, say, the Kim Dotcom profile we read earlier this year, the journalist obviously was not able to have any open access with its subject. Instead, the article was a “guide to what we know—and don’t know—about the North Korean leader’s disappearance.”

Since his rise to power in 2011, Kim Jong Un has maintained a heavy schedule of public appearances. However, in a shift of policy or maybe something more secretive, he has not been seen since early September of this year. Some people think that there may have been a coup. Others think that he may have suffered a stroke. Kim Jong Un has been the face of the North Korean government for four years, and the author argues that his prominence in the public limelight has obscured other North Korean officials. With Kim Jong Un out of the public eye, we now don’t know who to look to as the leader pulling the strings in North Korea. His shadow was so large that we don’t realize how many or the exact identities of the other North Korean leaders who were once in his shadow.

The author frames Kim Jong Un as a calculative figure who does his ridiculous things (like fraternizing with Dennis Rodman) in order to keep the news focused on unimportant things. The author also makes it seem as if Kim Jong Un was largely successful at obscuring his underlings who also pull the strings in his country. The whole article was a very unique feature, since it was written by someone who has never met Kim Jong Un nor (most likely) been to North Korea. However, I think that it is effective in telling the reader some of the things that are known about him. The photo at the top really helps to emphasize the idea that all other North Korea leaders are obscured by Kim Jong Un’s shadow.