Despite the best efforts of North Korea’s authorities to address the nation’s serious tobacco addiction, Kim Jong Un was pictured last week smoking while inspecting a newly built hospital built in Pyongyang.

Walking through newly built operation rooms, The Pyongyang Times reported that Kim Jong Un “asked questions in detail to see [that] they were thoroughly sterilized and dust-free”.  Seemingly underscoring his desire for maximum hygiene, he told reporters that hospitals should be “neat and splendid”.

At World No Tobacco Day 2011,  Pyongyang’s official Korean Central Television said the government was “taking practical measures to promote the health benefits of giving up