Mick Hartley

Who can fail to have been impressed by the photos this week of the Supreme Leader ascending Mt Paektu on a white horse?

There's speculation that this latest stunt may prefigure some dramatic new development. Or he may have felt that a bit of image-burnishing wouldn't go amiss. Or then again he may just have felt like a nice long horse ride up a mountain to clear his head, and a camera crew happened to be there to capture the moment.

The symbolism is not subtle. Mt Paektu is of course North Korea's holy mountain – "the sacred mountain of the revolution" – where Kim Jong-il, the Dear Leader, was supposed to have been born. [He was, in fact, born in Russia.] "The revolutionary spirit of Paektu" is appealed to regularly in state media.

And the horse echoes the legend of Chollima, the mythical winged horse. "At Chollima speed" is a constant exhortation to drive forward at full speed towards the dream of a great Socialist Nation.

But to get the full flavour, we need to pair the pictures with this Rodong Sinmun editorial – Let Us Advance Forward with Confidence in Sure Victory Following Horseback March of Great Brilliant Commander of Mt Paektu:

March to Mt Paektu by Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un was a historic event that would ensue a giant stride forward in the history of the Korean revolution.

The recent journey to Mt Paektu made by the Supreme Leader on a steed was a declaration which showed his faith to carry out to the last the revolutionary cause of Juche pioneered on Mt Paektu, and an expression of his will to certainly build the most powerful country looked up by the world on this land.

The sound of horse’s hooves made by the Supreme Leader on the top of Mt Paektu serves as a source which instills into the hearts of the people the confidence and optimism about sure victory and which makes the whole country brim with the zeal for revolution, struggle and creation.

The beaming image of the peerlessly great man who looked far into the advance of a powerful socialist country on the top of sacred Mt Paektu is the spirit of the DPRK that staunchly advances, meeting all foul winds with blizzards of Paektu, and it represents the tremendous vitality of Korean-style socialism which makes a leap forward with dynamism.

We have to dynamically advance toward a new victory with redoubled courage and in a spirited mood as how we crossed the steep mountains of the revolution for the great cause of building the most powerful country under the guidance of the Supreme Leader.

Immensely rosy future is ahead of Juche Korea advancing with the Supreme Leader in the van and invincible will be the DPRK’s cause of revolution.

Let us advance toward the new victory of the socialist construction following the horseback march made by the brilliant commander of Mt Paektu.