Karl Lagerfeld mocks Kim Jong-un as Baron Münchhausen in latest sketch

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Dec 8, 2017

Karl Lagerfeld has been commentating on internal German politics via his illustrations for the past four years. Now, the couturier has turned his attention to foreign affairs.
 

Last month he criticized Angela Merkel’s immigration policies for allegedly encouraging the growth of the extreme right-wing party AFD, in a controversial sketch which had Hitler in the background thanking the current German chancellor. This weekend, he turns his attention to North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, in his latest contribution to Frankfurter Allgemeine Magazin, the monthly supplement of Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, arguably Germany's most influential quality newspaper.
 
Ten days ago, Kim Jong-un personally authorized the launch of a North Korean intercontinental missile over Japan. Lagerfeld responds with a cartoon of Kim Jong-un with a maniacal smile and hair sticking up riding an antiquated warhead. The caption reads, 'Der neue Baron Münchhausen', in a mocking reference to the famous German satirical novel about an 18th century nobleman famous for telling outrageous tales.

Lagerfeld has been contributing to the weekly since February 2013 - providing an illustration for every issue, part of a remarkable output of drawings, numbering over 40,000. The magazine drawings are known as Karlikatur, an ideal pun on this designer commentator known for his machine-gun acid wit. His drawing of Kim Jong-un comes out in the magazine’s Saturday, December 9 edition.
 
“We are very happy to have Karl as a monthly inspiration,” Dr. Alfons Kaiser, managing editor of the magazine told FashionNetwork.com. “His sketches show that he stands in the great tradition of German political cartoons… influenced particularly by Simplicissimus, the leading German satirical magazine of the pre-war times, which he read as a boy.”
 
And, in this case, a simply delirious image of Kim Jong-un, a basketball nut, whom school mates report once spent hours himself labouring over his own sketches of Michael Jordan.