North Korea's release of a new, unedited Kim Jong Un photo had an inevitable response

At least three battles are taking place

A photo of North Korean leader Kim Jon Un that appears not to have been digitally edited (Korea News Service via AP)

Last week, North Korea took a step that surprised some outside analysts. It released a giant, high-resolution portrait of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Remarkably, the photograph appeared not to have been digitally edited. This was the real Kim, flaws and all.

It was a seemingly out-of-character move for a country with a long history of digitally altering photographs for propaganda purposes. Some analysts even reasoned that the North Korean state might be trying to send a message with the image, perhaps even portraying North Korea as a “normal” country whose leader, while treated like a god by North Korean citizens, wasn’t vain at all.

Whatever the intention, if any, behind the release of the image, the response was inevitable: a race to digitally edit Kim.

At least three battles are taking place, the Huffington Post reports, on the websites Bored Panda, Twitter and Reddit. You can see a small selection of those images below.

There’s plenty more out there.

This is, of course, far from the first time that Kim has found himself a target of mockery online. He has become a regular guest in Reddit’s PhotoshopBattles — take a look here, here, here and here. Whatever the horrors of the North Korean regime, the desire not to take Kim seriously is certainly persistent.

Copyright: Washington Post