Kim Jong Un has traded the parka for a dark

Unlike Kim Jong Il, who sequestered himself burberry outlet 2012 for three years of mourning before formally taking up the mantle of leadership, Kim Jong Un is moving swiftly to demonstrate a decisiveness perhaps aimed at dispelling concerns about his ability to rule. He is only in his late 20s and made his public debut as his father's anointed successor just 15 months ago, far less time than the 20 years Kim Jong Il had to prepare to lead.
With the world watching, Kim Jong Un has tread confidently down the "red silk carpet" laid before him by his father, as one analyst put it, using family tradition as his guideposts. Kim Il Sung has served as his main muse as he seeks to consolidate power and loyalty.
"The image of a young smiling Kim Il Sung is deeply engraved in North Korean people's minds. It is the image of a young general who liberated the nation from Japan's imperial rule," said Ahn Chan-il, a political scientist at the World Institute for North Korea Studies in South Korea who was born in North Korea. "Kim Jong Un is borrowing from that. Kim Il Sung is resurrected in the looks and behavior of Kim Jong Un."
Two years ago, the world knew so little about the young man that even the South Korean government was spelling his name wrong. Here's a look at what we know now.
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THE BLOODLINE
Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il were characterized in North Korea as having a divine right to rule, and Kim Jong Un is leaning on this legacy as he shores up support for a third generation of Kim leadership.
Kim Il Sung founded the country in 1948, three years after Korea was divided into the Soviet-backed north and the U.S.-allied south. When he died in 1994, Kim Jong Il took over in what was the first hereditary succession in the communist world.
"His power comes from the bloodline," said Kim Gwang-in, head of research at the North Korea Strategy Center in Seoul.
Plans for Kim Jong Un to succeed his father were laid out after Kim Jong Il suffered a stroke in 2008. As recently as October, Kim Jong Il issued an order to elevate his son to supreme commander of the Korean People's Army, the Korean Central News Agency reported late last month.
"Kim Jong Il laid a red silk carpet, and Kim Jong Un only needs to walk on it," said Jeung Young-tae of the Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul.
The most important holidays in North Korea are the Burberry menswear - shirts, t-shirts, underwear, sweater, jackets, jeans birthdays of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, and it's likely that Kim Jong Un's birthday will become a national holiday as well. Exactly when he was born has never been revealed, but it's widely believed that he will celebrate a birthday on Sunday.
In recent days, North Korea's state broadcaster has aired tributes and odes to Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, as well as the first documentary footage of Kim Jong Un and a tune composed to prepare for his leadership: "Footsteps."
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THE LOOK
Kim Jong Un's resemblance to his grandfather is uncanny — and probably strategic.
He is in his late 20s, undeniably young for the leader of a nation. But Kim Il Sung was just a few years older when he emerged in 1945 to lead the North after Japan's World War II defeat ended its colonial rule of Korea.
"When Kim Jong Un smiles, that reminds me exactly of a 33-year-old Kim Il Sung," Ahn said.
Photos of Kim Il Sung hanging on the walls of the Workers' Party Foundation Museum in Pyongyang, spotted during an October visit by The Associated Press, show a dapper young man with a startling similarity to Kim Jong Un. Even their hairlines are trimmed identically.
The grandson walks, shoulders thrown back, and gestures with both hands like his grandfather.
Last year, Kim Jong Un appeared in a light gray parka like the one his father famously wore. And during the mourning period, Kim Jong Un donned a dark Mao-style suit like the one his father wore when Kim Il Sung died in 1994.
However, since then, Kim Jong Un has traded the parka for a dark, double-breasted winter overcoat — much like the jackets his grandfather favored.
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THE CEREMONIES
Solemn and somber in mourning, Kim Jong Un followed the routine set by his father at Kim Il Sung's 1994 funeral. He bowed at three sides of his father's glass-encased casket at Kumsusan Memorial Palace, just as his father did 17 years earlier.
For the funeral, officials dusted off one of Kim Il Sung's Lincoln Continentals for the procession through the snowy streets of Pyongyang. Just as in 1994, mourners lined the street wailing.
But Kim Jong Un played an even more public role in the procession than his father in 1994. Barehanded and bareheaded, he walked with the hearse, right hand held burberry handbags cheap up in a salute, left hand at times resting on the vehicle.