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The 70th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s accession to the throne will be held in England from the 2nd to the 5th.
As the ‘Platinum Jubilee’, a celebration of the 70th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s accession to the British throne, began on the 2nd, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un sends a birthday congratulations to the queen.
The North Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on its website on the 2nd that “Dear Comrade Kim Jong-un sent a congratulatory message to Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.” The commemorative event will be held from the 2nd to the 5th, and a public congratulatory message was sent to coincide with the start date.
An interesting fact is that North Korea’s diplomatic relations with Britain, which have consistently raised human rights issues, are not very friendly.
The United Kingdom, along with the United States, is a representative country of ‘imperialism’ that North Korea publicly condemned.
North Korea has been openly criticizing Britain’s close relations with the United States, including participation in the British Orcus (US-UK, Australia-Security Alliance) and the English-speaking secret-sharing alliance ‘Five Eyes’.
Last month, he criticized Britain’s agreement with Rwanda to send refugees from Britain to Africa, saying, “The words ‘humanitarianism’ and ‘protection of human rights’ that the UK memorizes when they open their mouths are nothing but hypocrisy.”
Recently, British Ambassador to Korea Colin Crooks held a joint conference in Seoul with French, Argentinean and Dutch ambassadors to condemn North Korea’s crime of enforced disappearance. Ambassador Crooks served as ambassador to Pyongyang before taking office in Korea.
Showing off ‘member of a nuclear-weapon powerhouse’ beyond a normal state
Chairman Kim’s congratulatory message to Queen Elizabeth II is interpreted as an attempt to make the international community aware that it is a ‘normal country’ and a ‘nuclear powerhouse’.
Chung Young-tae, a chair professor at Dongyang University, who served as the head of the North Korean Research Institute, said to the BBC, “North Korea’s recent diplomatic strategy is to raise its presence as a nation much more so that it can be recognized.”
It is explained that it is to show off internally and externally that it is a country that can compete shoulder to shoulder with world powers as a nuclear power beyond a normal state.
photo source, AFP Contributor
On September 10, 2017, North Korean state-run KCNA reported that Chairman Kim Jong-un attended an art performance commemorating the success of the hydrogen bomb test.
Professor Jeong emphasized, “Until now, messages were exchanged mainly with friendly countries such as socialism and communism, but now it is exercising its role as a diplomatic state regardless of East and West to show its rise as a global member.”
According to the North Korean state-run KCNA report, most of the countries that have exchanged top-level congratulatory messages with North Korea over the past five years are Syria, Laos, Palestine, Iran, Congo, Algeria, Tunisia and Cuba, as well as African and Third World countries.
On the other hand, there are also analyzes that it is a signal to expand and resume relations with European countries such as the European Union (EU) in a situation where relations with the US are frozen.
“It is very special and unusual for Chairman Kim Jong-un to send a congratulatory message to the British Queen,” said Lee Sang-sook, a professor at the Institute for Foreign Affairs and Security at the National Academy of Foreign Affairs.
It is interpreted that it is a gesture to seek to improve relations with European countries, although they are receiving support from China in a situation where they do not want help from the United States and South Korea in relation to the corona virus.
Professor Lee emphasized that “the EU actively provided food aid to North Korea during the ‘March of Difficulties’ in the 1990s.