10 Crazy Things About The North Korean Leader Kim Jong-il That Will Make You Go WTF

When I say North Korea, I assume your thoughts build up a very flabby image of Kim Jong-un. (Who, by the way, was voted sexiest man alive in 2012 by The Onion! :/ ) But, if you think it is Kim Jong-un and his [insert adjective] deeds that have given North Korea the image that it carries, then hold on! The son gets his attributes from his father, who, by the way, in some aspects was certainly far more bizarre.

Kim Jong-il ruled North Korea from 1994 to 2011 and passed away on December 17, 2011. Following listed are some of the most whacky facts about him. I am convinced you would have never heard any facts as bizarre about any other leader before!

1. According to his official biography, a double rainbow and a new star emerged in the sky when he was born

According to his biography, Kim was born on Paektu Mountain in Japanese-occupied Korea in 1942. According to his mother, news of his birth, via radio, reached an army camp in Vyatskoye. And so, he and his mother did not return to the camp until the next year.

His biography also says that his birth was foretold by several bizarre phenomena in the sky. There was a swallow in the sky, appearance of a double-rainbow, and an emergence of a new star!

According to real life data, however, he was born in Siberia where his father was serving his exile term in 1941. (Yes, there is a confusion with his birth year).

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2. And eventually was born the myth of Kim Jong-il’s ability to control weather

Yeah, they said he could make clouds to pour on demand. Basically, whenever the mood hit!

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3. He was the greatest golfer the world has ever seen. (Or perhaps, a super human)

If reports of National Media are to be believed, the first time Kim held a golf club (which supposedly was in 1994), he achieved an impressive 11 holes-in-one, and made a total score of a historic – 38 ! However, no other media organization reported this news. But, if this were true, then this is definitely the most unrealistic golf score ever achieved.

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4. He was 5ft 2in in height; all the extra height was a result of weight lifts in his shoes and bouffant hairstyle!

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5.  He even kidnapped short people

He, in fact, took in hands the responsibility of getting North Korea rid of the short-height issue in 1989. Kim commissioned distribution of pamphlets, describing a ‘wonder drug’ that could make short people grow taller, in Pyongyang. Obviously, the drug was no wonder of a thing. It was just a wicked tactic of the leader of rounding up short people and transporting them to some uninhabited island. The motive was to get rid of their ‘substandard’ genes so that an end could be brought to the thriving of short people in the nation.
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6. Kidnapped a renowned South Korean director and his actress wife in 1978 to commission the remake of Godzilla

Kim Jong iL was a huge movie fan!

• His collection constituted of over 20,000 foreign films!
• He was so frustrated with the kind of movies that were made in North Korea that he even wrote a book titled ‘On the Art of the Cinema’ in 1973.
• Despite his immense creative influence over North Korean cinema, the industry did not come up with any Kim-type good movies.
• Exercising full control over the matter, he kidnapped 2 acclaimed South Korean directors (Shin Sang Ok and his wife Choi Eun Hee) in 1978.
• He forced them to remake Godzilla! AKA Pulgasari. Kim Jong-il was the executive producer of the movie.
• In 2003, it was also reported that Kim Jong-il had a massive collection of porn movies.

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6. He enjoyed donkeys (as food)

While on his tour to Moscow by train in 2011, he savoured the recipes of a roast donkey, which, by the way, were flown to his train, each day! In 2004, it was reported by one of his former chefs that Kim has developed a taste for fine French wine, lobster and donkey meat!

Fine wine with donkey meat just doesn’t sound right to my soul.

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7. His staff members were forced to become drug addicts

As the story goes, once Kim was administered with a painkiller after he fell off a horse. When it came to his notice that the pain-killer might be addictive, he made sure that his staff members got the dose of the painkiller next morning, because if he were to fall an addict to the drug, it had to be with his team.

This revelation came out in the book written by one of his former staff members. He wrote about how his ‘dear’ leader forced the personnel to take painkillers, chiefly because he did not want to be the only one falling addict to them after falling off a horse!

Yes, he was an over-thinker, but unlike the regular over thinkers, he did put his extreme thoughts to action.

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8. His OCD with rice

He detested eating rice grains that weren’t uniform to each other. He wanted the length, plumpness and colour same for all the grains in his dish. So much so, that he had a women staff that attended to his, this special need. They meticulously checked each and every rice grain for its size and other factors before they made their way into his palace’s kitchen.

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9. They say he never defecated

It is unsurprising but in North Korea, Kim Jong iL’s image was that of a God. The texts taught in the schools of North Korea were all Kim-oriented, and they touted Kim (and his father, Kim Jong Sung) as perfect human beings who never, ever did anything that was ungodly in nature(whatever that means!). They said, they were convinced that Kim Jong IL never had to urinate or defecate.

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10. He was the man of 50 names

Some of the cheesiest ones being-

1. Shining Star of Paektu Mountain,
2. Guiding Sun Ray,
3. Dear Leader,
4. Great Leader,
5. Respected Leader,
6. Brilliant Leader,
7. Sun of Socialism,
8. The Great Sun of Life,
9. Great Man Who Descended From Heaven,
10. Invincible and Ever-triumphant General, and
11. Highest Incarnation of the Revolutionary Comradely Love.

There’s an entire Wikipedia page that sports the gigantic list of his names!

From Jongs to Kardashians, the name Kim does sound synonymous to ‘crazy’. Doesn’t it?

On a serious note, we do hope North Korea sees a happy sunrise soon.

Kbai now! I am off to reading about Kim Jong-un, the son of the man who never defecated.

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