Last week Nick posted about the opening of a new terminal at Pyongyang International Airport. It features such modern amenities as a gift shop, a duty-free store, a chocolate fountain, a newstand (presumably with a wide selection of international, independent publications), and… luggage carts!
Per the Korean Central News Agency, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un was apparently satisfied with the new terminal:
After getting down through an air bridge, he went round the newly-built terminal.
He was very satisfied to see the terminal well built as required by modern architectural beauty and national character.
He noted with pleasure that the gatepost of the airport was erected in such way as to sustain the national character and the front and back of the terminal look very nice.
The pictures certainly seem to support that theory:
Only apparently Kim Jong Un wasn’t satisfied. As a matter of fact, apparently he was so unsatisfied that he decided to execute the terminal’s designer. Via Yahoo News:
Kim smiled as he posed next to chocolate fountains and espresso bars – but in in private was so furious at ‘defects’ that he had the airport’s designer killed.
Airport design chief Ma Won Chun disappeared late last year, and is thought to have been executed after Kim voiced his dissatisfaction with the airport, according to The Diplomat.
Chun was executed for ‘for corrupt practices and failure to follow orders.’
Kim Jong Un issued a statement saying, ‘Defects were manifested in the last phase of the construction of the Terminal 2 because the designers failed to bear in mind the party’s idea of architectural beauty that is the life and soul and core in architecture to preserve the character and national identity.
I’d love to make jokes about the world class facility and Kim Jong Un’s amazing basketball skills, but this is just so screwed up…
I guess really the picture of Kim Jong Un at the airport should be more like:
The airport is beautiful, modernisation......wait, something is missing
>As a matter of fact, apparently he was so unsatisfied that he decided to execute the terminal’s designer.
>Airport design chief Ma Won Chun
Ma Won Chun had another minor title: Director of the Designing Department of the National Defence Commission. As in, he was one of North Korea's leading architects and in charge of major construction/infrastructure projects.
But sure, he was executed because the newsStand sign was missing the second 's', and not for...
>As a matter of fact, apparently he was so unsatisfied that he decided to execute the terminal’s designer.
>Airport design chief Ma Won Chun
Ma Won Chun had another minor title: Director of the Designing Department of the National Defence Commission. As in, he was one of North Korea's leading architects and in charge of major construction/infrastructure projects.
But sure, he was executed because the newsStand sign was missing the second 's', and not for any other screwups. Let's go with that.
Lots of comments in bad taste already (Neil S), as well as the image at the bottom of this post.
Allegedly someone lost their life and you think to photoshop a picture making light of the situation?
I'm without words.
Hey Lucky,
This is somewhat irrelevant to this post but thought you should know. And would love to hear your thoughts about it. :)
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/suit-filed-against-airasia-over-flight-8501-crash
Articles posted by China & NK's central news agency for the west to consume always associate whatever subject to it's nation, country, or party's' pride. take this:
"He was very satisfied to see the terminal well built as required by modern architectural beauty and national character.
He noted with pleasure that the gatepost of the airport was erected in such way as to sustain the national character and the front and back of...
Articles posted by China & NK's central news agency for the west to consume always associate whatever subject to it's nation, country, or party's' pride. take this:
"He was very satisfied to see the terminal well built as required by modern architectural beauty and national character.
He noted with pleasure that the gatepost of the airport was erected in such way as to sustain the national character and the front and back of the terminal look very nice."
It is hard for anyone born in this country to write in this style, but common where I grew up.
The problem is that there are absolutely zero facts to support this claim or "story", which incidentally, seems to have appeared first in a British tabloid.
There's a long list of folks that were supposedly executed and then resurfaced a few months later.
The fact that the designer is not on the official pictures is flimsy evidence. The "statement" that Kim Jong Un has allegedly issued is a fabrication as far as I know. The...
The problem is that there are absolutely zero facts to support this claim or "story", which incidentally, seems to have appeared first in a British tabloid.
There's a long list of folks that were supposedly executed and then resurfaced a few months later.
The fact that the designer is not on the official pictures is flimsy evidence. The "statement" that Kim Jong Un has allegedly issued is a fabrication as far as I know. The leader doesn't issue statements.
You're not a journalist, and this blog is not a news outlet. But this is just propagating click-bait sensationalistic bs. Not a single serious source of information about the DPRK has relayed this story.
The story might be true. Or it might not be. As far as I'm concerned, when a story appears first in the Daily Mirror and is then borrowed by news outlets that copy/paste without providing supporting data, I tend to form my own opinion of its veracity, and encourage others to do the same.
At least his wife is a hottie.
Who here has not wanted something bad to happen to an airport designer at some point?
Signed,
LGA is my home airport.
Sadly not surprising. He executed his own uncle previously as well as the country's defense minister, who was shot publicly with an anti-aircraft gun.
OMG. Doesn't matter whar happens in the rest of the world. UNHRC will bash Israel and everything anywhere else is good.