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When Kim Jong Un first entered the scene in 2011, taking up the role of supreme leader of North Korea from his father, Howard X immediately thought: ‘he looks so much like me’.
The music producer hadn’t ever considered being an impressionist before. But after putting on a suit he already owned, snapping some pics and uploading them onto a Facebook, he found his recent job.
Inside two weeks he’d booked his first skilled gig as an impersonator and was flown out to Tel Aviv.
Howard, who’s in his mid-40s and originally from Hong Kong, had been serious about global politics, especially that of dictatorships like North Korea, for a few years.
Combined together with his enjoyment of satire and comedy, the music producer realised that becoming a Kim Jong Un impersonator was his ideal job.
Talking to Metro, Howard said that while interest in his work fluctuates depending on current events, he can see himself continuing his activism for a few years to come back.
‘Every time Kim launches a missile, my phone is ringing off the hook,’ he explained.
‘But I don’t wait around for him to do something. I’ve noticed that one of the simplest ways for me to get work is to do my very own projects.
‘I’ve at all times been political, I’ve at all times gone to protests for various causes I imagine in, and I discovered that it is a very useful gizmo to satirise dictators.’
Howard spoke to Metro from The Hague after he protested outside the Nato summit venue earlier this 12 months.
Posing with an inflatable nuke with ‘Europe, my troops are already in Ukraine. Where are yours?’ written on the side, it’s secure to say his political opinions are clear.
Howard said: ‘People enjoy my satirical tackle world events, and being in The Hague with all of the motion happening here it’s been good for my profession – unfortunately.’
But this has got him in trouble up to now. After participating within the Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong in 2014 as Kim Jong Un, Howard’s house was raided and he was arrested.
Although the costs were dropped, he felt he had to go away Hong Kong for his own safety.
From Donald Trump’s inauguration to Olympic opening ceremonies, Howard has been all around the world to make an announcement, but not all the pieces has gone easily.
He has previously been deported from Vietnam and detained in Singapore for his protests, and he says he was even followed and assaulted by North Korean agents.
Thankfully, as he has Australian citizenship, he’s been capable of arrange a secret base down under.
In truth, probably the most bookings he’s ever had got here after he documented being kicked out of Vietnam.
Howard explained: ‘I knew my notoriety within the press would give me some protection, and even when the cops got here in Hong Kong they said “we’re big fans, but our boss told us that we had to come back”.
‘I had to go away a life behind in Hong Kong, I miss getting some proper dim sum, but I even have the privilege of being an Australian citizen, so I figured that since I even have this privilege, I want to make use of it to talk up.
‘Now we have two dictators now mainly controlling the world, we’ve got Trump on one side and Xi Jinping on the opposite side, and everybody else is caught in the center.
‘I believe for loads of individuals who should not Trump supporters, they get sad and frustrated when each time they activate their TV they see this idiot spouting his garbage.
‘That’s why I made a decision to satirise it, since the only way you possibly can cope with that psychologically is to indicate how ridiculous it’s and make a joke out of it, which is amazingly easy.’
From Sacha Baron Cohen’s The Dictator to political satire show Spitting Image, Howard has a wide range of influences. He also rates Frank Sanazi, a comedian who impersonates Adolf Hitler singing the songs of Frank Sinatra.
But how effective is satire at bringing about change? Howard argues it’s vital.
‘If I used to be only one protester with an indication, I can be ignored, it wouldn’t have much of an impact, so I made a decision to make use of this impersonation to attract eyeballs to the explanation for democracy, and it’s very effective,’ he explained.
‘I believe that’s why dictators are so sensitive about it. All dictators fear being made fun of.
‘Quite a lot of protesters will probably be very offended, and loads of people will get very turned off by that very aggressive way of protesting.
‘For those who’re making a joke out of it, it’s a gut response so people cannot look away, and the people you’re making fun of, they feel they lose face.
‘For those who could make people laugh, it takes away the fear.
‘I’ve even made supporters of China laugh, and as a protester and political activist, you not only need to get your side to be united but you need to change the minds of the supporters of the dictatorship, so I believe it’s very useful.’
And if he was to ever come head to head with Kim Jong Un, he already knows what he’d say to the dictator.
‘I’d say “go kill yourself and make me the leader, I’ll free your country.”‘
This story was originally published on June 27, 2025.
Get in contact with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
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