8 - Plastic Surgery?
Around September of 2010, rumors spread that Kim Jong-un got plastic surgery to look more
like his beloved grandfather, Kim Il-sung.
South Korean newspapers alleged that the administration in Pyongyang wanted the public to be confident
in their probable new leader by portraying him as a sort of reincarnation of Kim Il-sung.
His resemblance to his grandfather was even emphasized on a new set of stamps that were
issued after he took leadership back in late 2011.
The rumors started when the first adult photos of Kim Jong-un were released.
The photos were from the event where he was named vice chairman of the Central Military
Commission of the Worker’s Party and where he was also honored as a four-star general.
The resemblance between him and his grandfather were uncanny, even as relatives.
They had the same chubby cheeks, the same frowning mouth, the same double chin, and,
of course, the same haircut.
This was such a huge contrast to any previous photos of Kim Jong-un.
In all of those photos, he appeared youthful, slim, and hardly looked like his grandfather
at all.
Most people point out the clear change in the shape of his chin.
In January of 2013, North Korea finally responded to these rumors after China’s Shenzhen TV
struck a nerve.
China media reported that a Chinese diplomat met privately with a North Korean official
who confirmed the surgery allegations.
The official Korean Central News Agency claimed that this was just a falsehood made up by
their enemies, and call it their quote, “rubbish media.”
The agency aimed their verbal lashing at South Korea however, which saved China from being
involved the drama.
7 - Private Traveling Toilet Does anyone really expect the Supreme Leader
to use a public bathroom?!
Well, maybe it’s not a big deal for other leaders around the world, but for North Koreans,
this simply cannot happen, as supposedly they are to believe that Kim Jong-un doesn’t
use the bathroom since he’s on God level.
Of course, that lie would be exposed when he travels if he actually had to use a public
restroom.
Instead, this guy has his own personal toilet.
And when I say personal, I mean it in a literal sense, as it’s made for him and can only
be used by him.
High-ranking North Korean officials could face death if they were caught using Kim’s
bathroom.
How it works is like this.
One of the vehicles in his convoy has a mobile toilet installed in it for him to use whenever
he travels.
The Escort Command is in charge of making sure Kim and his family is safe, similar to
the Secret Service in the US.
According to sources close with the Escort Command, the mobile toilet isn’t just installed
in one specific vehicle.
He actually has these toilets built into multiple vehicles that he travels in which include
small cars, midsize cars, and even all-terrain vehicles used for snowy mountains.
Kim Jong-un always travels with multiple vehicles in his convoy for safety reasons.
With all the different cars, no one can tell exactly which one he’s in, and there’s
always one car that’s used as the restroom.
As you can imagine, using the bathroom leaves Kim quite vulnerable, so his bathroom needs
are handled by his Escort Command.
This requires adequate preparation and extra security protocol for command soldiers because
it’s a very sensitive matter that requires complete secrecy.
6 - Mysterious Childhood In August of 1998, Kim Jong-un was enrolled
in a Swiss boarding school.
Obviously the administration in North Korea won’t admit this one, but he was there under
the fake name, Pak Un.
The Swiss were told that he was the son of an employee of the North Korean embassy.
It’s kind of surprising that no one ever figured out who he really was during his time
at the school but maybe it’s one of those things that everyone probably whispered about
but never really talked about in the open.
He only revealed his true identity to his closest friend at the time.
Okay, I’m pretty sure everyone knew.
Allegedly, the headmistress who introduced the new student to the class knew his true
identity at the time.
But, now that the secret is out, his teachers have admitted that they did have their suspicions.
One thing they found odd was that Pak Un’s parents never showed up to any “parent events.”
Of course, his father was busy running a dictatorship and had no time for attending those parent/teacher
meetings.
Instead, Pak had some pretty shady chaperones that always made excuses as to why his parents
couldn’t attend.
I mean, why not just make a couple of his chaperones his mom and his dad?
Anyways, another one of his close childhood friends, recalled seeing mysterious women
videotaping Pak while he played basketball.
It seemed like these women were either superfans or servants, which in reality, they probably
were both.
According to the local education chief, in late 2000, Pak Un just mysteriously disappeared
in the middle of the school year.
His friends thought that perhaps he got sick and that he’d be back soon, but he never
did show up again.
5 - Loves Swiss Cheese Kim Jong-un apparently fell in love with swiss
cheese when he was a student in Switzerland.
But, his love for swiss cheese eventually spiraled out of control when he became addicted
to it.
In 2014, Kim got upset at his chefs because they couldn’t replicate Emmental, his favorite
kind of swiss cheese, properly.
So, he sent officials to a French culinary school to learn how to do cheese the right
way.
Wow, he didn’t just kill them and go kidnap some swiss chefs?
Even though there are sanctions against the west in North Korea, figures from Trademap
show that Kim imported about $61,000 dollars worth of cheese to North Korea in 2016.
This addiction, as with most addictions, has caused quite a few negative side-effects.
The most obvious thing an overabundance in consumption of swiss cheese cause is weight
gain.
When you eat copious amounts of anything, you’re bound to get fat, no matter what
it is.
At one point, North Korea even had put in a request to Chinese officials to stop calling
their cheese-loving leader fat.
They were referring to Kim with names such as “Jin Pon Pon,” which translates to
“Kim Fatty Fatty” and Jin San Fei, which basically is another way of calling him fat.
However again, some say that Kim purposely gained the weight to look more like his grandfather,
like I mentioned earlier when I was talking about his plastic surgery.
Another thing this cheese addiction caused was illness.
Everyone noticed that Kim Jong-un was limping at an event he attended in July of 2014.
When September came, rumors spread that something was seriously wrong with Kim.
Officials claimed that Kim was only suffering from a bit of discomfort, but after so much
speculation, they finally admitted that the leader wasn’t doing well.
It was suspected, based on his cheese diet and limp that he had gout.
Swiss cheese wouldn’t be my first go to for getting fat, but hey, that’s just me.
4 - The Moranbong Band Kim Jong-un created his very own all-girl
band in July of 2012 called the Moranbong Band.
The girls in the band, also known as the Moran Hill Orchestra, were all selected by Kim himself
from the armed forces.
Yes, each member is apparently highly ranked in the military.
According to the Korean Central News Agency, the creation of the band was driven by a plan
to strengthen the North Korean fields of art and literature.
The band is basically a way for Kim to spread his communist messages in a more new-age and
western way.
There are about 20 members in the band, where usually five girls sing while the rest play
instruments.
The band also sets the standard for fashion and culture so people know what is and isn’t
acceptable.
In December of 2015, the band mysteriously cancelled performances in Beijing at the last
minute.
The North Korean side claims that Kim made his band leave because he expected Chinese
leaders to attend, and when he found out that it would just be a few lower ranked officials
he was furious.
But on the other hand, it was also reported that the group was banned from performing
because of the Chinese censoring the band’s anti-American lyrics.
Eh, I’m not sure what I believe here; maybe it was a bit of both!
But, despite North Korea’s negative opinions of the west, the Moranbong Band uses a bit
of western influence to appeal to the masses.
For example, sometimes the singers performed in skirts that show a little skin above the
knees and high heels, which wasn’t a commonly acceptable style.
They even performed in front of western backgrounds, with dancing costumed Disney characters and
covered western songs such as Frank Sinatra’s classic, My Way.
I’m sure Disney was thrilled to learn of North Korea’s use of their characters.
3 - Pleasure Squad Kim quite often has a group of women swooning
over him, but it actually goes deeper than that.
These groupies are commonly known as his “Pleasure Squad.”
He picks these girls out fresh from school, and some very unfortunate girls are as young
as 13 years old.
He requires for these girls to be virgins, so the girls have to undergo tests to have
medical proof that they’re virgins…..well, as much as medical tests could prove that
I guess.
Once the proof is established, the girls are basically forced to be his sex servants, as
disgusting as that sounds.
There would be things such as alcohol-fueled s*x parties where they would play games and
women would have their pubes shaved if they lost.
Um……...yeah.
Not all of them would live the life of being in a concubine though.
Only the ones who were exceptionally beautiful would do that.
The rest would be singers, dancers, or maids.
It doesn’t last forever, they retire at some point in their twenties.
I guess the one upside is that Kim is known for splurging on the squad.
According to Trade Map, in 2016 he spent over $3,000,000 on lingerie for them, earning him
the nickname “Kim Thong-un.”
COME ON, 3 million dollars worth of lingerie?!
Even if he did all his shopping at La Perla, that’s still a helluva lot of lingerie!!
Supposedly when the girls retire, the women are given more money, more gifts, or even
a husband, in exchange for their secrecy.
2 - Booze From wine to vodka to beer, Kim Jung-un loves
it all and he’ll have only the best of the best.
Of course it’s only natural for a cheese fan to also have a soft spot for wine.
Apparently, he actually bragged to a chef that one time, he downed 10 bottles of Bordeaux
during one meal, and that he could drink that much wine regularly.
Most people are knocked out after just one or two bottles, so I’d bet that he’s exaggerating
just a little bit here.
I guess all those bottles of wine could be the reason why he was actually filmed falling
asleep in front of the Supreme People’s Assembly.
He was being named the head of a new group when the camera showed him starting to nod
off and quickly panned away.
There are also reports that he drunkenly chastised senior military officials.
He made them write apology letters for not having any success with military satellites,
and having had absolutely no memory of doing this the following day.
Half of the money that he spends on alcohol goes toward fine wine, but, as of 2016, the
Supreme Leader seemed to have acquired a taste for something much stronger.
He imported 10 times the amount of rum in 2016 than he did in 2015.
He also spent $32,000 more on vodka in 2016.
1 - Basketball Basketball Basketball During his time in Swiss boarding school,
he certainly stood out from the crowd as a basketball fanatic.
His childhood friends said that he was obsessed with basketball.
Yes, Kim apparently was a baller, in more ways than one.
He had money to indulge himself in all things basketball and he wasn’t afraid to show
it.
Supposedly one time, he actually had a car from the North Korean Embassy drive him from
Switzerland to Paris just so that he could watch an NBA exhibition game.
He lived in a large, suburban apartment at the time that barely had any furniture.
What he did have was a ton of NBA memorabilia, such as pictures of him posing with Toni Kukoc
and Kobe Bryant.
I wonder if they had any idea who this random Korean kid could have been?
The other thing is that he wasn’t just a fan of the sport, but he was actually a pretty
good player too.
A close friend, describes him as quote “the playmaker.”
He led the team and made the most moves.
Young Kim was very competitive and winning meant everything to him.
He absolutely hated losing.
His closest childhood friend in switzerland said that he was a huge fan of the Chicago
Bulls, and that one of his favorite players was Michael Jordan.
C’mon, who didn’t love Michael growing up in the 90’s?!
One of his former classmates also said Kim actually got in trouble once for drawing a
sketch of Michael instead in paying attention in class.
As far as Kim Jong-un playing basketball goes, I’d love to find a video of Kim Jong-un
doing a reverse lay-up…..actually I think I’d pay for a video for that.
Here’s what’s next!