China has a long reputation for censoring political speech and dissent against their own government. But now, the Chinese government is trying protect a neighboring leader who's not held in high esteem: North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.
Fascination has grown in the People's Republic of the DPRK leader's apparent weight gain, and now the Chinese government has stepped in to censor offending language to the young dictator on social media.
Terms like "Kim the Fat," "Kim Fat III," and "Kim Fatty III" have appeared on social media sites throughout the year, particularly on the popular Chinese platform Sina Weibo. The "III" refers to the fact that Kim Jong-un's father and grandfather were also named "Kim."
In response to North Korea allegedly asking the Chinese government to censor these social media posts mocking their dear leader, users started to get more creative with their posts, including names like "Kim III half-moon."
According to the monitoring website Free Weibo, various nicknames insulting the North Korean leader have ended up on a censored list, with search results of such names turning up with this.
The first sentence that appears when searching one of these terms is "According to relevant laws, regulation and policies, search results are not displayed."
Many in the Chinese mainstream media suspect both the Chinese and North Korean governments are responsible for this recent wave of censorship.
Kim Jong-un, 32 and thus considered a millennial, came into power following the death of his father Kim Jong-il in 2011. But like millions of millennials, at least in the U.S., the North Korean leader needs a safe space to avoid getting his feelings hurt.
Maybe Kim Jong-un should get himself a Facebook account and record a live video of his country's latest "cry in" while they all starve in labor camps.