Dictator Deathwatch: It’s all in the hat

The oddity that is North Korea is, of course, closely scrutinized around the world. But this report in The Chosun Ilbo newspaper has taken Kim-watching to a new level.

According to this respected Korean paper, many important eyeballs are focusing on, well, a furry hat:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's son and heir Jong-un is already being treated with the same level of protocol as his father. A senior South Korean government official last Friday said Kim Jong-un seems to have moved up to the same rank as his father. "The most conspicuous sign is that Kim Jong-un has started wearing a top-quality furry hat that only Kim Jong-il has been wearing so far," the official added. Kim junior wore the same hat as his father in video clips showing Kim senior's so-called on-the-spot guidance trip to the Mansudae Art Studio in Pyongyang on Jan. 23 and 24.

The photographic evidence is above. You decide.