ASIA / PACIFIC
November 1, 2021
THE ASIAN REPORTER n Page 3
North Korean soldier in blue
generates buzz on social media
By Hyung-jin Kim and
Kim Tong-hyung
The Associated Press
S
BOOSTERS OFFERED. Sri Lankan students and teaching staff participate in activities at a government
school in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on October 21, 2021. Sri Lanka last month announced plans to offer booster
shots to frontline workers, followed by the elderly, as the island nation gears up to further ease COVID-19
restrictions. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
Sri Lanka gives booster shots
to frontline workers, seniors
By Bharatha Mallawarachi
The Associated Press
C
OLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka
last month announced plans to
offer booster shots to frontline
workers, followed by the elderly, as the
island nation gears up to further ease
COVID-19 restrictions.
Starting November 1, workers in the
health, security, airport, and tourism
sectors are starting to receive a third dose
of vaccine, said Channa Jayasumana, the
state
minister
of
pharmaceutical
production, supply, and regulation.
The Pfizer booster shots will then
include those above 60 years old, he said.
So far, about 59% of the 22 million
population have been vaccinated, and the
Health Ministry expects the rate to rise to
70% within three weeks.
The booster rollout came ahead of the
government’s plans to lift monthslong
travel restrictions between provinces on
November 1. The government also
announced that train service that has been
halted for nearly two months would restart
soon.
Sri Lanka lifted a six-week lockdown on
October 1 and since then, life has begun
returning to normal with the reopening of
cinemas, restaurants, and wedding
parties as COVID-19 daily cases fell to
below 1,000 with fewer than 50 deaths.
However, a ban on public gatherings
continues along with some restrictions on
public transport.
EOUL, South Korea
— A North Korean
soldier clad in a
super-tight blue outfit in a
state media photo has
generated a buzz on social
media, with some calling
him “a superhero,” “a
captain DPRK,” or “a
rocket man.”
He was among nearly 30
soldiers who posed for a
photo with leader Kim
Jong
Un
during
an
exhibition of weapons
systems in October. North
Korea then published
photos of the event.
They all mostly wore
olive green uniforms, the
most common color for
North Korean military
uniforms. Only two of them
wore different colors — the
one in the blue outfit and
the other in a navy-blue
uniform, which isn’t that
unusual. Kim wore a dark
suit.
Some Twitter users in
South Korea, the U.S., and
elsewhere joked about his
appearance, saying he
looks like a “human cannon
ball,” or the North Korean
equivalent of Captain
America.
Others called him a
SUPER SOLDIER? In this photo provided by the North Korean gov-
ernment, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center, poses for a group
photo with fighter pilots who made the demonstration flight at the opening
of an exhibition of weapons systems in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Octo-
ber 11, 2021. Kim reviewed the rare exhibition and vowed to build an
“invincible” military, as he accused the United States of creating regional
tensions and lacking action to prove it has no hostile intent toward the
North, state media reported. Independent journalists were not given ac-
cess to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North
Korean government. The content of the image is as provided and cannot
be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as pro-
vided by source reads: KCNA is the abbreviation for Korean Central News
Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
“superhero”; a “captain ing a group of jets flying in
DPRK,”
the
official a formation during an air
acronym for North Korea; a show ahead of the exhibi-
“rocket man”; or a member tion. The official Korean
of (non-existent) North Central News Agency said
Korean space forces.
a “top notch parachutist
North Korean state showed landing skills,
media didn’t identify the fluttering red party flag in
man. But Jeffrey Lewis, an the (October) sky” before
expert at the Middlebury the exhibition’s opening
Institute of International ceremony.
Photos of an earlier air
Studies
at
Monterey,
tweeted that “It seems he’s show in North Korea
showed parachutists wear-
the parachutist.”
Other North Korean ing similar blue tight
photos showed Kim watch- outfits.
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