{"id":31752,"date":"2012-05-16T16:39:27","date_gmt":"2012-05-16T20:39:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=31752"},"modified":"2019-01-14T13:00:11","modified_gmt":"2019-01-14T18:00:11","slug":"kim-jong-uns-first-speech-interpreted-as-doggerel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/05\/16\/kim-jong-uns-first-speech-interpreted-as-doggerel\/","title":{"rendered":"Kim Jong-Un&#8217;s First Speech, Interpreted as Doggerel"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>On April 15, Kim Jong-Un, the new leader of North Korea, gave his long-awaited maiden speech, on the hundredth anniversary of his grandfather, Kim Il Sung, the country\u2019s founder. Befitting the occasion, enormous crowds attended, and male and female soldiers marched <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-asia-17718864\">with goose-stepping precision<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>North Korea-watchers considered it an important moment to gauge the new leader, and he did not disappoint, celebrating the particular take on history that distinguishes North Korea from all other nations.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\" http:\/\/www.northkoreatech.org\/2012\/04\/18\/english-transcript-of-kim-jong-uns-speech\/\">A full transcript <\/a>has just been provided by a North Korean website, but for the readers of The Paris Review<em>, a condensed version has been prepared, in poetic form.<br \/>\n<\/em><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Comrades and Soldiers!<br \/>\nLove and Rockets!<br \/>\nToday we proclaim<br \/>\nOur bulging pockets.<\/p>\n<p>Red Guard worker-peasants!<br \/>\nRed Guard of the young!<br \/>\nLet me sing you the song<br \/>\nOf Kim Il Sung.<\/p>\n<p>A century ago,<br \/>\nOn this exact date,<br \/>\nThe Eternal President<br \/>\nBuilt our correct state.<\/p>\n<p>A hundred years later,<br \/>\nWe continue to rate.<br \/>\nThe Kim Il Sung nation<br \/>\nIs utterly great.<\/p>\n<p>All-crushing victory!<br \/>\nWhat a country he made.<br \/>\nI must passionately say,<br \/>\nI love a parade.<\/p>\n<p>For too long the great powers<br \/>\nSaw us as their flunkeys.<br \/>\nToday, it is they.<br \/>\n[Imperialist monkeys!]<\/p>\n<p>They trampled us<br \/>\nAt their festival scenes.<br \/>\nIn the glorious future,<br \/>\nThey will soon be has-beens.<\/p>\n<p>Thanks to the program<br \/>\nOf Military-First,<br \/>\nOur flowing coffers<br \/>\nAre ready to burst.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s ridiculous how much<br \/>\nWe have for dinner.<br \/>\nToday marks the Grand<br \/>\nFestival of the Winner.<\/p>\n<p>Monumental is<br \/>\nThe Korean creation.<br \/>\nThe gun barrel is<br \/>\nThe life of the nation.<\/p>\n<p>Even when it gets dark,<br \/>\nOr snows, or is raining,<br \/>\nWe feel the hot wind<br \/>\nOf our Paektu training.<\/p>\n<p>We will walk in this path<br \/>\nTill our shoes all wear out,<br \/>\nThen we\u2019ll grow new shoes,<br \/>\nIn our gardens, like sprouts.<\/p>\n<p>Our people will have<br \/>\nEver-fewer needs,<br \/>\nBecause will grow<br \/>\nThe valuable seeds.<\/p>\n<p>We kindle the flames<br \/>\nOf new industries.<br \/>\nWe feel the hot blast<br \/>\nOf a new business breeze.<\/p>\n<p>The sun flag will flutter,<br \/>\nFar in the van.<br \/>\nWith guns, and with butter,<br \/>\nI am your man.<\/p>\n<p><em><br \/>\nAnacharsis Clootz is the author of<\/em> L&#8217;Orateur du Genre Humain<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On April 15, Kim Jong-Un, the new leader of North Korea, gave his long-awaited maiden speech, on the hundredth anniversary of his grandfather, Kim Il Sung, the country\u2019s founder. Befitting the occasion, enormous crowds attended, and male and female soldiers marched with goose-stepping precision. North Korea-watchers considered it an important moment to gauge the new [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":348,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1189],"tags":[7577,7576,7580,7579,191,165,7578],"class_list":["post-31752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-on-politics","tag-doggerel","tag-kim-jong-un","tag-noms-de-guerre","tag-noms-de-plume","tag-north-korea","tag-poetry","tag-pseudonyms"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.4 (Yoast SEO v25.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Kim Jong-Un&#039;s First Speech, Interpreted as Doggerel by Anacharsis Clootz<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"May 16, 2012 \u2013 On April 15, Kim Jong-Un, the new leader of North Korea, gave his long-awaited maiden speech, on the 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