Abraham Lincoln died almost 150 years ago, but North Korea’s propaganda department decided to bring the 16th president back to life by ‘channeling’ him in an open letter, chastising the Obama administration’s policy regarding North Korean’s leader Kim Jong Un, describing it as “obsolete and useless.”
“Hi there, Obama. I understand how perplexed you must feel nowadays, but I think this is the time for you to gather your thoughts as a president of a nation,” the North Korean version of Honest Abe wrote in the state publication “North Korea Today,”according to translations reported in the Washington Post and English-language North Korean watchdog NK News.
“A thought came to my mind to give you this advice when I saw you standing in front of my portrait deeply engaged in contemplation during your Easter prayer meeting.”
North Korean Lincoln chides Obama economic sanctions against North Koreans as “shameful.”
“Look, Obama, the US has been threatening the stability and peace of that small country in the East for more than 70 years, and such an act is so shameful that I can’t bear to see the US obstructing the people’s development,” the letter said.
“It stifles my chest to hear the news of the punishing UN sanctions imposed against that country … that country will never fall from the effect of sanctions or economic blockades.”
The piece also mocks Obama, who “seven years ago” said he planned on creating a world without nuclear weapons.
“You talked boastfully how you would try your best even though it may seem impossible to realize such a world in your term, but how much progress have you made so far?” the piece reads. “None. Instead of abolishing nuclear weapons, the U.S. has modernized its nuclear arms and conducted the ”B61-12“ nuclear test in Nevada last year.”
The letter also compared Lincoln’s announcement of the Emancipation Proclamation to the sanctions:
“The U.S.’s old tactic of manipulation and deception through the guarantee of ‘human rights’ and ’equality' will not work against North Korea (as it did against the Confederacy),” N. Korean Lincoln said.
“Americans lionize me as an emancipator of black slaves … but only few know of my true intentions behind the announcement of Emancipation Proclamation,” N. Korean Lincoln said. “To bring the victory for the Union, I felt the dire necessity to announce the emancipation of black slaves … and I suitably took advantage of it (to win the war).”
Suh Dong-gu, a South Korean researcher with the Korea Institute of National Unification think tank, called Pyongyang’s letter a desperate attempt to appeal to American readers so that they can view North Korea more favorably, but on the contrary, the letter looks “comical” to American readers, he said.
“This letter shows that Pyongyang is trying to ease tension with the US even by imitating America’s most well-known figure to make themselves as ‘American’ as they can be,” the North Korean expert told NK News.
