North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, centre, poses with military personnel – including the man in the super-tight blue outfit – at the opening of an exhibition of weapons systems in Pyongyang, North Korea. AP
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, centre, poses with military personnel – including the man in the super-tight blue outfit – at the opening of an exhibition of weapons systems in Pyongyang, North Korea. AP
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, centre, poses with military personnel – including the man in the super-tight blue outfit – at the opening of an exhibition of weapons systems in Pyongyang, North Korea. AP
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, centre, poses with military personnel – including the man in the super-tight blue outfit – at the opening of an exhibition of weapons systems in Pyongyang, North Korea

World

Who is the North Korean 'rocket man' in blue creating a buzz on social media?

Dozens of military personnel posed for a photo with leader Kim Jong Un during an exhibition of weapons systems - but one stood out

The National

October 13, 2021

  • English
  • Arabic

He has upstaged leader Kim Jong Un in a state media photo, but who is the North Korean soldier clad in a super-tight blue outfit?

Nearly 30 service personnel posed for a photo with Mr Kim during an exhibition of weapons systems on Monday.

North Korea published pictures of the event the following day.

Almost all wore olive-green uniforms – the most common colour for North Korean military uniforms. Mr Kim wore a dark suit.

But one wore a tight blue synthetic outfit – creating a buzz on social media.

Some users compared him to Captain America, calling him “a superhero” and “a Captain DPRK,” – a reference to North Korea's official name the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Others called him “a rocket man” and said he looked like a “human cannonball".

North Korean state media did not identify the man.

But Jeffrey Lewis, an expert at Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, California tweeted: “It seems he’s the parachutist.”

Other North Korean photos showed Mr Kim watching a group of jets flying in a formation during an air show before the exhibition.

The official Korean Central News Agency said a “top-notch parachutist showed landing skills, fluttering red party flag in the (October) sky” before the exhibition’s opening ceremony.

Photos of an earlier air show in North Korea showed parachutists wearing similar blue tight outfits.

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