In case you missed it, the Los Angeles Times put out a great piece the other day previewing what’s likely to happen as young Kim Jong Un takes the reins.

The Times’ former Seoul bureau chief, Barbara Demnick writes: 

His youngest son, Kim Jong Un, was only recently named to succeed him and is still in his 20s. He has before him what seems an impossible task for a baby-faced young man who just a decade ago was attending high school in Switzerland: Rescue a failed state, and perpetuate the family dynasty into a third generation.

Add to that a string of unusual stories coming out of Pyongyang this week, including North Koreans are mourning the death of Kim Jong-il by building a shrine at a supermarket escalator: 

From the Christian Science Monitor:

The North Korean government propaganda machine is delivering a steady diet of images of North Koreans mourning the death of Kim Jong-il.

We’ve seen North Koreans wailing, sobbing, and quietly weeping in public plazas, schools, and factories. And, of course, there are the predictable long lines of people waiting to pay their respects at the Dear Leader’s see-through coffin on display in Pyongyang.

But perhaps the most unusual expression of the North Korean cult of personality is a “shrine” at a supermarket escalator.