North Korea - The death of a close relative of the ruling family in such strange circumstances has not merited a single word in the state-controlled media of North Korea.
Such censorship is the norm in North Korea, a country of 24 million, where the majority survive on limited rations and the country’s ruling elite lead lives of extreme privilege, with lobsters and Kobe beef flown in from abroad for official dinners.
The chronically malnourished North Koreans have literally shrunk over the years. With millions starving, they are, on average, 13cm shorter than those in South Korea.
Citizens are under 24-hour surveillance. Televisions only receive government stations, cellphones are the preserve of an elite and the internet is banned. All public telephones are monitored and no one is allowed to leave the country. Ever.
Kim Jong-un has retained the system introduced by his father, the Dear Leader, a chronic alcoholic who accumulated a fortune and that has seen hundreds of thousands of his subjects jailed. Three generations of a family will be punished if just one person speaks ill of him.
Executions and torture are rife. A ccording to rare accounts from defectors, specially trained dogs are set on prisoners to maul them to death.Others are beaten and shot through the head
Kim Jong-un has ordered horrific punishment of opponents and reportedly had 11 former girlfriends executed before his marriage.
His defence minister was publicly executed for answering back and falling asleep during military meetings, while his uncle was shot after committing “tremendous crimes against the government”.
The Supreme Leader, married with a young child, lives in seclusion in a mountainous area that can be reached only by an underground road. There, alongside his command centre, fighter jets and helicopters are on constant stand-by inside bunkers dug deep into the mountain.
Blacklisted by the US and targeted with sanctions, Kim Jong-un is viewed by many intelligence officials as a danger to the world.