North Korean leaflets liken South's first lady to Marie Antoinette, condemn her expensive fashion tastes

Anti-South leaflets featured a photo of the first lady, Kim, with a caption dubbing her a “modern Marie Antoinette.” Another leaflet listed the prices of accessories worn by Kim during her visits to foreign countries.

Anti-South leaflet shows a picture of first lady Kim Keon Hee. North Korea sent the leaflets with balloons which flew over the inter-Korean border on Thursday. [JOONGANG PHOTO]

North Korea sent balloons carrying leaflets criticizing South Korea’s first lady Kim Keon Hee and her expensive sartorial tastes, according to a report Thursday in the JoongAng Ilbo, an affiliate of the Korea JoongAng Daily.

The balloons sent by Pyongyang on Thursday morning landed in Seoul and even within the presidential office compound in Yongsan District, in the heart of the South Korean capital. Unlike previous trash-laden balloons, the latest balloons on Thursday carried propaganda materials, not filth.

The anti-Seoul leaflets featured a photo of the first lady, Kim, with a caption calling her a “modern Marie Antoinette.” Another leaflet listed the prices of accessories worn by Kim during her visits to foreign countries — $46,154 for a necklace, $11,538 for a bracelet and $20,000 for a brooch — with the phrase “Do you know?”

Such leaflets appear aimed at provoking public resentment toward the South Korean first lady by highlighting how much she spends on her appearance and stoking internal divisions among South Koreans. Observers also believe it is a tactic to shift people’s attention from North Korean troops in Russia to the political impasse in Seoul.

The leaflets could also be Pyongyang’s way of responding to South Korean leaflets highlighting luxury clothing worn by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and his daughter. A photo of an anti-Kim leaflet that appeared in the North’s state-controlled newspaper Rodong Sinmun criticized Kim Ju-ae — the daughter of the North Korean leader — for wearing clothes made by French luxury brand Dior.

Pyongyang appears to have taken the reference to the 18th-century French queen from Kim Kyung-yul, a former member of the conservative People Power Party’s supreme council who likened the first lady to Marie Antoinette in January.

Anti-South leaflets are scattered on roads in Yongsan District in central Seoul on Thursday. [JOONGANG PHOTO]

On Tuesday, Kim Jong-un’s sister Kim Yo-jong released a statement saying that “a lot of politically motivated rubbish” from South Korea “was discovered and removed in many parts” of North Korea a day ago.

Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said Thursday that North Korea launched trash-laden balloons toward the South beginning at 2:30 a.m., noting that the winds would likely carry them to Gyeonggi, Gangwon and the greater Seoul area.

The balloon that fell on the presidential compound was found to be nonhazardous and free of contaminants, according to the Presidential Security Service on Thursday morning. The balloon and its payload have since been recovered and are being investigated in coordination with the JCS.

BY CHUNG YEONG-GYO, LEE YU-JUNG, LEE SOO-JUNG, WOO JI-WON [lee.soojung1@joongang.co.kr]