The years since Kim the third came to power have been particularly rocky for North Korea’s relations with China. In May 2012, North Koreans kidnapped and held for ransom 29 Chinese fishermen, stoking popular anger; in February 2013, Pyongyang reportedly ignored Beijing’s entreaties not to carry out its third nuclear test. Meanwhile, to many Chinese online commenters, North Korea appears to evoke China under late communist strongman Mao Zedong; a totalitarian state, economic backwater, and international pariah that shares a Communist provenance with China but has shamed itself with its inability or unwillingness to follow their country’s reformist blueprint. Unable to speak with such force about Mao, or China’s current leadership, netizens have for years taken delight in tweaking Kim, touching up images of his visage with lipstick and rouge and creating a video showing Kim him in a muddy fistfight with the Japanese prime minister.

Read the article “Chinese Censors Are Giving North Korea a P.R. Makeover” on foreignpolicy.com.