Kim Jong-un featured in news website’s ad

An ad featuring North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has appeared in Manhattan, New York.

The Daily Mail, a British newspaper, used him in an ad for its website, Mail Online.com. The ad is hung on a wall at a large subway station in Times Square.

The ad puts Kim side by side with Kim Kardashian, an American TV personality, with the tagline “The Kims. They’re on the same page.”

First published in 1896, the tabloid daily has gained a reputation for reporting gossip and sensational news. In 2012, it had 52 percent female readership, becoming the only British newspaper whose female readers constitute more than half of its demographic.

The ad seems to seek to maximize its effect by comparing the two contrasting figures in its coverage, one closed to foreign media and the other open to it.

Use of the North Korean leader’s image in advertising wouldn’t necessarily cause a problem. The U.S. Constitution regards parody and advertisements featuring public figures in and outside of the U.S. as freedom of expression.

It is not the first time for Kim Jong-un to have been featured in advertisements.

A vodka ad using him went up on the wall of a building on Lafayette Street in the heart of Manhattan in June.

The commercial for WODKA, a Polish vodka brand, showed Kim in a Mao suit patting a white cat in front of a bull’s eye with vodka bottles flying toward him like missiles. Above him were written “American Quality, North Korean Pricing” to suggest high quality and low cost.

Ashley Madison, an online dating service, used his image in a billboard advertisement at Los Angeles International Airport in July 2012.

By Chun Sung-woo (swchun@heraldcorp.com)