World News for Students of English

17-07-2014 15:00

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un appears to have limped on stage at an event to mark the anniversary of his grandfather’s death. Footage broadcast by the country’s state-run television showed Kim walking into the centre of a large stage with a limp, in front of a huge portrait of his grandfather emblazoned onto a red flag.

Speeches by government officials were heard during the memorial service for founding president Kim Il Sung, who died 20 years ago today. State-produced media and propaganda is highly controlled and choreographed by the isolated country and any defects with its leadership are usually kept a tightly guarded secret. Kim Il Sung, who founded the country and ruled until his death, had a large tennis-ball sized growth on the back of his neck which meant state propagandists were forbidden from filming him from certain angles. It’s not clear why Kim Jong Un had developed the limp, but state media has shown the young leader, in his early 30s, conducting military spot guidance visits on the east and west coasts of North Korea in recent weeks.

Difficult words: limp (walk with difficulty), footage (video), state-run (managed by the government), emblazoned (depicted) propaganda (people make the news show certain things), isolated (to be separated), defect (problem).

Source: www.itn.co.uk