North Korea stamps call for MASS production of nuclear missiles
PEN NEWS Kim Jong-un is depicted making his New Year's speech one of the stamps
Using stamps to spread the regime's propaganda, Kim has seized the opportunity to call for mass production of nuclear missiles. A red stamp depicts Kim making his New Year's speech, when the communist dictator pledged to continue his widely condemned nuclear missile programme. One design features mobile missile launchers and carries the words "immediate counterattack" and "mass production of nuclear warheads and ballistic rockets". The words are quoting a section of Kim's speech when he called for increased weapons production so that the North is ready to strike back against "the enemy's manoeuvres for a nuclear war".
Another design was captioned with a declaration of "victory in the construction of the North Korean nuclear armed forces" and sits alongside a Hwasong-15 missile. The missile was successfully tested on November 28 last year and is theoretically capable of reaching the entirety of the US, including Washington DC. The stamp of Kim giving his speech calls for "a new victory on all fronts of building a socialist power with revolutionary gunfire". Other stamps brag about the economy, hailing advances in construction and the carbon and chemical industries.
PEN NEWS The colourful stamps typically depict military scenes
PEN NEWS The stamps have been released on the 70th anniversary of the founding of the country
PEN NEWS The stamps state serve as an opportunity for the government to brag about its alleged achievements
There are also designs boasting of the North's alleged achievements in healthcare, education, sport and culture. In the past North Korea has used souvenir stamps as a way of bringing in foreign income, helped by the low cost of production. Even Princess Diana stamps were issued by the North in the 1980s, but now they are more likely to produce designs popular with the growing Chinese market. Their designs can also provide an insight into the regime's ideology, often featuring anti-American images like Capitol Hill being destroyed.
PEN NEWS The stamps offer observers an insight into North Korea's propaganda machine
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