One month after the death of North Korea’s supreme leader, Kim Jong-Il, the country is still in mourning, with reports that anyone seen to be disrespecting the ‘dear leader’ will be punished with six months in prison.
The state-controlled Korean Central News Agency has carried stories of dramatic storms following the death of the notorious dictator, as well as flocks of mourning magpies and depressed bears.
Here are a few of the miraculous tales reported during his lifetime:
Legend has it that a double rainbow and a glowing new star appeared in the heavens to herald the birth of Kim Jong Il, in 1942, on North Korea’s cherished Baekdu Mountain. Soviet records, however, indicate he was born in the Siberian village of Vyatskoye, in 1941. The people of North Korea, many of whom are reportedly battling famine, are apparently told that Kim’s birthday is celebrated throughout the world.
Official records reportedly show that Kim learned to walk at the age of three weeks and was talking at eight weeks. While at Kim Il Sung University, he apparently wrote 1 500 books over a period of three years, along with six full operas. According to his official biography, all of his operas are “better than any in the history of music”.
Then there’s his sporting prowess. In 1994, Pyongyang media reported that the first time Kim picked up a golf club, he shot a 38-under par round on North Korea’s only golf course, including 11 holes-in-one. Reports say each of his 17 bodyguards verified the record-breaking feat. He then decided to retire from the sport forever.
While Kim was on his famous 2001 train trip to Moscow, a Russian envoy who travelled with him said roast donkey and fresh lobsters were flown to the train every day. Kim also reportedly ate the food with silver chopsticks and washed it down with French wine and Champagne. Kim was also said to be one of the world’s biggest buyers of Hennessey cognac.
German media reported in 2007 that Kim hoped to solve the famine in his country by breeding giant rabbits. An east German farmer who bred rabbits the size of dogs was apparently asked by North Korea to help set up a big bunny farm to alleviate food shortages. To get things going, he sent a batch of 12 giant rabbits to North Korea, but was shocked to hear they were eaten at Kim’s birthday banquet that year.
Standing at 5-foot-3, Kim was a curious figure with his bouffant hairdo, platform shoes and collection of jumpsuits. And let’s not forget those sunglasses. But nevertheless, Rodong Sinmun, a communist party newspaper, reported that Kim Jong Il’s suits had become a global fashion phenomenon.
His “fashion icon” status has also reportedly been transferred to son and successor, Kim Jong Un. Word is that the slick, trimmed haircut of Kim the younger, who may have had plastic surgery to look more like his father, is being mimicked by countless youths on the streets of Pyongyang.