Part of the quaint charm of North Korea, besides its constant sword-rattling, is its mandatory idolatry of its head of state, its lavish devotion to spectacular propaganda events, and its unwavering loathing of everything to do with the United States except for basketball. Subsequently, its seems somewhat odd that during the majestic and highly choreographed funeral procession put on in December of 2011 for its dictator Kim Jong-il a/k/a "Dear Leader, Who is a Perfect Incarnation of the Appearance That a Leader Should Have" the casket was carried on top of a hunk of Detroit (well, technically speaking, Dearborn) iron--namely, a highly polished black 1976 Lincoln Continental stretch limousine. Not only that, the parade contained a second vintage Lincoln carrying an immense portrait of the Supreme Leader on its roof as well as a third Lincoln displaying a huge wreath.
In that the United States and North Korea have had only an armistice in place for over sixty years and are still officially in a state of conflict, it is hard to fathom how the Lincolns managed to get imported into that nation in violation of US law. It is possible that they were locally made and are simply clones of the American design (Communist regimes have done that sort of thing before), but this seems to be unlikely in view of the fact that the North Koreans could have more easily copied limos from many other countries which they did not totally despise. A more plausible explanation was given by an official of Ford of Japan, who indicated that one of its dealers had in the past been suspected of selling Ford products to North Korea in violation of Japanese law. This theory is corroborated by the presence of extra rear view mirrors mounted on the fenders near the front of the cars, which is a requirement in Japan but not in most other nations.
Ford headquarters in the USA has been very coy and reticent about commenting on the fact that its products were spotlighted in the funeral of one of the world's most notorious despots, but you can be sure that deep down Ford executives relished the free publicity.
Oh, and by the way, Lincolns were also used in the state funeral of Kim Jong-il's dad when he died in 1994.
No comments:
Post a Comment