Plea to avoid using N.Korean leader's name
6 Dec MAX News
In North Korea, there can be only one Kim Jong Un.A South Korean
official said that Pyongyang forbids its people from using the same name
as the young absolute leader.
The measure appears meant to bolster a personality cult surrounding
Kim, who took over after the death of his dictator father Kim Jong Il in
late 2011.
Seoul officials have said Pyongyang also banned the use of the names
of Kim Jong Il and the country's founder, Kim Il Sung.
The South Korean official said Kim Jong Il in early 2011 ordered
citizens with the same name as his son to get new names and demanded
that authorities reject birth registrations of newborn babies with the
name. The official requested anonymity because he wasn't authorized to
speak publicly. He refused to disclose how the information was obtained.
Kim Jong Un made his international debut in late 2010 when he was
awarded a slew of top political jobs.
His father, who reportedly suffered a stroke in 2008, was seen as
moving fast to hand over power so his family could rule for a third
generation. Kim Jong Il inherited power in 1994 when his father Kim Il
Sung died.
North Korea enforces strict, state-organized public reverence of the
Kim family, which serves as the backbone of the family's authoritarian
rule of the impoverished country.
The North is locked in a long-running international standoff over its
nuclear ambitions.
All North Koreans are required to wear lapel pins bearing the images
of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il and to put the leaders’ portraits on the
walls of their homes. |