Gongs

I used to think that extravagant use of gongs by the military, and by dictators pretending to be military, was the preserve of more or less failed states in South America and Africa. Maybe it was something in the damp air coming off the South Atlantic. With senior officers of the Red Army of the Soviet era coming in a respectable second.

So I was a little surprised by this snap, lifted from the FT, of top brass in North Korea. The most extravagant use of gongs ever. With the great white leader himself opting for contrast. But maybe, in what he does wear, he allows himself 22 carat gold, rather than the 9 carat he allows his lieutenants. Or maybe even brass - which does polish up pretty well. Furthermore, they are the top brass and the Koreans may used the same phrase as we do.

PS: I remember, from my days at the Treasury, of colleagues from the Customs branch being described as being rather fond of the lettuce (on their shoulders).

References

Reference 1: North Korea’s ‘nascent hacker underground’ playing ‘cat and mouse’ with regime: Tech-savvy citizens are trying to circumvent restrictions but the penalty for being caught is severe - Christian Davies, Financial Times - 2022.

Reference 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Central_News_Agency. The agency itself, I imagine the source of the snap above, not available this morning. Perhaps we do blocking too.