A visit to Pyongyang: The Kim dynasty's homage to Stalinism

There's one particularly close parallel for the style and strategy of the Kim cult: Stalinism

Most of the chaperoned tours to North Korea each year include a walk through some well-tended gardens in Pyongyang, where Korean men in nondescript uniforms tend flower beds and manicure lawns without even briefly acknowledging a rare group of foreigners. As my group walked around, we approached a man just as he started to crouch over a flower bed – revealing the Adidas logo on the waistband of his boxer shorts.

As “builder’s bum” moments go, this was as surprising as they come. It was the only time during my five days in the North Korean capital when I saw any