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Kim Jong-un Wore A Fedora

by Joseph D. Lyons

Kim Jong-un has done it again. No, he hasn't given up his iron-clad rule on North Korea. Nor has he stopped menacing his neighbors or even the West Coast. What he's done is something that only the most brave among us can pull off: Kim wore a fedora without any hint of irony. What's even better is that the internet can't get enough of his new look while completely ignoring his malevolent threats.

Sure, he has just menaced us with scarier weapons this month, specifically a thermonuclear bomb. Evidently it's worse than the atomic ones he already had. But anyway, more on that later. Back to that hat. Chinese news website Sina reported that Kim was touring a machinery factory on Sunday when he decided to don the black fashion accessory.

Unfortunately for Kim, he's a little bit behind the times — it seems GQ doesn't have much circulation in North Korea. Hats had their comeback way back in 2010, according to Vice, and Esquire explicitly banned the fedora in 2012. Canadians may be given an exception, but we expect this leader to follow Fifth Avenue's lead — despite the unlikelihood of a visit to NYC. I'm sure he'd love to come, but some at the U.N. — for one — would like to see him stand trial for human rights violations. The supreme leader will have to try to make due with Pyongyang's fashion houses.

Mashable's fashion reporter called the situation apocalyptic. "Rarely can men pull off a fedora with ease," David Yi told a fellow reporter in the website's coverage of the fashion emergency. "Case in point, Dear Leader Kim himself, who proves that you need a better wardrobe — and not to mention, swag — to make a fedora cool."

This is evidently not the first time he's worn a hat. In June, he made headlines for wearing a wide-brimmed beige Panama hat. As a part of his summer tour of crops, he oddly paired it with a pinstriped suit instead of a Hawaiian shirt.

As for the new threats of advanced weaponry, Kim's claim is dubious. Thermonuclear — or hydrogen — bombs are much more advanced than first-generation atomic weapons. Lee Chun-geun, a Science and Technology Policy Institute research fellow, told Yonhap, a South Korean news agency: "It's hard to regard North Korea as possessing an H-bomb. I think it seems to be developing it."

Let's hope they're a little further off than his claims. No one with a fedora should have access to that kind of fire power.