Ri Chun Hi, North Korea’s most famous state TV anchor, has become the topic of official North Korean media herself after leader Kim Jong Un gave her a luxurious residence.
The anchor, dubbed abroad as the “pink lady” for her bright, traditional attire, has announced major events for decades, including nuclear and missile tests and the death of a leader, with an instantly identifiable, passionate voice.
Mr Kim gave her the luxurious residence and asked her to continue to serve as the voice of his ruling Workers’ Party.
Experts say Mr Kim is providing special treatment to elite North Koreans to boost their loyalty as he grapples with the pandemic, a troubled economy and a stalemate in nuclear diplomacy with the United States.
“(Kim) said it is the sincerity of the party that there is nothing to spare for the treasures of the country like her who has worked as a revolutionary announcer for the party for more than 50 years since her girlhood,” the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.
Mr Kim expressed “expectation that she would as ever vigorously continue her work in good health as befitting a spokeswoman for the party”.
He met Ms Ri, who is about 79, after inaugurating a newly built riverside terraced residential district in Pyongyang, the capital, KCNA said.
It said houses in the district were presented to Ms Ri and other people who have given distinguished service to the state.
North Korea often inaugurates construction projects to mark key state anniversaries.
Friday is the 110th birthday of Mr Kim’s late grandfather and state founder Kim Il Sung.
It is the most important state anniversary in North Korea, which has been successively ruled by three generations of the Kim family since its foundation in 1948.
The new housing area is where Kim Il Sung’s official residence was located until the 1970s.
Pyongyang is North Korea’s showcase city, and its elite residents enjoy relatively affluent lives compared with people in remote rural areas where many still suffer from poverty and malnutrition.
A majority of North Koreans who have fled the country in the past two decades have come from its northern regions close to the border with China.
“By giving houses to those who have been faithful to him, Kim Jong Un would want to further bolster their royalty and internal unity,” said Moon Seong Mook, an analyst with the Seoul-based Korea Research Institute for National Strategy.
“Ri Chun Hi is a clear example of such people as she’s strongly propagated his nuclear and missile tests and served as a sort of bugler for him.”
Mr Kim toured Ms Ri’s house with her and held her hand as they descended the stairs.
Ms Ri said she felt her new house is like a hotel and that all her family members “stayed up all night in tears of deep gratitude for the party’s benevolence”, according to KCNA.
She later used her trademark over-the-top speaking technique to narrate a state TV video of Mr Kim showing her the house.
Ms Ri joined state TV in the early 1970s, when the country was still governed by Kim Il Sung, and she has gradually become the face of the country’s propaganda-driven news broadcasts.
Her close ties with Mr Kim were shown during a military parade last year when she watched troops march from an elevated veranda right next to Mr Kim, put her hand on his shoulder and whispered to him at one point.
In another event, she was the first person who exchanged a handshake with Mr Kim before holding his arm and posing for a group photo.
Moon said Ms Ri receives cabinet member-level treatment at home, appears healthy and is expected to continue to handle key televised announcements at least for the next few years.
Ms Ri’s passionate, effusive style has sometimes generated laughter in other countries.
In 2011, a Taiwanese TV station apologised after one of its newsreaders mimicked the tone Ms Ri used when she announced the death of Mr Kim’s father, Kim Jong Il.
Since inheriting power upon his father’s death, Kim Jong Un, 38, has led North Korea with absolute authority.
But he is facing one of the toughest moments of his rule after the coronavirus pandemic shocked an economy already in dire shape from mismanagement and US-led sanctions.
Analysts say recent missile tests were meant to advance his weapons arsenal and pressure the US into recognising North Korea as a nuclear state and relaxing international sanctions.
