The iconography of leadership generally has two purposes: to legitimate and validate the authority of a person, and to unite a country behind that person in a single national purpose. Imagery assumes particular significance at moments of national stress, which is why considerable attention has been paid to recent photos of North Korean despot Kim Jong Un charging up Mount Paektu, a mountain of symbolic importance for the Korean people, on a white horse. The pictures were consistent with that government's adulatory propaganda, but experts warn that they could anticipate a bold move from Kim that could have profound consequences for the region.
The Kim family has long entangled its history with Korean mythology. Mount Paektu is the birthplace of Dangun, founder of Korea's first kingdom. Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Un's grandfather and founder of the modern North Korean state, purportedly used the mountain as the base for guerrilla forces that he led against the Japanese during World War II. Kim Jong Il, the father of Kim Jong Un, was supposedly born on the peak. (In fact, Kim Il Sung spent much of the war in the Soviet Union and Kim Jong Il was born there.)
The white horse is another such symbol. Korean legends tell of the winged horses Chollima and Mallima, which could run for great distances at high speed. The elder Kim employed that imagery himself: He was often depicted atop a white horse during fights with the Japanese.