IDIOTS from Indonesian charity defends world peace award for North Korea's Kim Jong-un

Founding President Sukarno’s Daughter of the Sukarno Education Foundation insists claims of human rights abuse in North Korea are "Western propaganda"

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is no stranger to dubious accolades and has already been crowned Supreme Military Commander, National Defence Chairman and First Secretary of the Worker's Party.

This week, it emerged that Mr Kim is to receive yet another prestigious title - though for once it has not been bestowed by the North Korean state.

Instead he is in line for an international award extolling his "peace, justice and humanity" thanks to an Indonesian charity.

It is the second unusual award to be bestowed upon the North Korean leader, who was crowned TIME magazine's Person of the Year in 2012 after the public vote was hijacked by internet pranksters.

The new appointment has sparked an onslaught of ridicule and disbelief, forcing Indonesia's Sukarno Education Foundation to defend itself.

They have dismissed criticism as "Western propaganda," and insist claims the North Korean dictator has an appalling human rights record are fabricated.

"The allegations about human rights abuses are untrue," said Rachmawati Sukarnoputri, who runs the Sukarno Education Foundation.


"That's all just Western propaganda. Those Western governments like to put ugly labels on North Korea."

Rachmawati, who is the daughter of Indonesia's founding president, drew parallels between Kim the younger and her own father, who ruled the Southeast Asian archipelago until he was overthrown in 1965.

"Sukarno was also accused of being an evil dictator who violated human rights, but this was proven otherwise over time," she said.

Not everyone is shocked by the announcement, with local newspaper The Jakarta Globe pointing out the foundation has previously given the same award to Kim's grandfather Kim Il-sung, who founded the North Korean dictatorship.

It has also reignited the debate online over the political leanings of international prizes, such as China's controversial decision to hand a Confucius Peace Prize to former Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

The United Nations has already warned Kim Jong-un that he could face prosecution after it accused him of meting out some of the worst human rights abuse since the Second World War.

February 2014 a senior panel branded the North Korean regime a "shock to the conscience of humanity" and compared its prisons to Nazi death camps.

The panel cited gruesome accounts of inmates at the prison camps, which hold up to 10,00 people, being beaten, tortured and starved to death en masse.

Indonesia has enjoyed a longstanding relationship with North Korea since 1960, but a recent poll by the BBC World Service suggested that just 28 per cent of Indonesians viewed North Korea's influence as positive.