Are All Stories About North Korea True?
When an organization is caught telling as many outlandish lies and mistakes as the government of North Korea, every story about its dishonesty or ignorance can seem plausible. Not every tall tale about the so-called Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) or its leaders actually originates from north of the DMZ, however. In the time-honored tradition of geopolitical opponents everywhere, South Koreans and their allies have happily spread their own whoppers about the Kim regime over the years. Here are a few rumors you may have heard about the DPRK, as well as the truth behind them.
- Kim Il-sung was not the real Kim Il-sung.
The Soviet Union chose Kim Il-sung to found the DPRK in part because he could credibly be called a hero of the long resistance against Japan’s colonization of Korea. Kim was the last surviving commander of the Anti-Japanese United Army’s 1st Army in Manchuria, an organization through which he achieved some renown. According to Bradley K. Martin’s exhaustive book “Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader,” the Japanese authorities were offering a reward for his head by the time he turned 25.
Probably in order to undercut Kim’s appeal as a war veteran, his enemies circulated the rumor that he actually stole the alias and reputation of an older resistance fighter, Kim Kyung-cheon. This charge was difficult to dismiss because even Kim Il-sung admitted to having been born Kim Sŏng-ju. He adopted his more famous sobriquet later.
Leading scholars, including Andrei Lankov and Bruce Cumings, nevertheless now believe Kim Il-sung’s stolen identity to be a myth. Bradley K. Martin himself considers the matter unimportant: “Whether or not he borrowed the name Kim Il-sung is irrelevant… since it was he who went on to give the name the considerable luster it acquired in the 1930s.”
- The North Koreans once announced they discovered the lair of a unicorn.
On November 29, North Korea’s news agency sent out a press release in English declaring: “Archaeologists of the History Institute of the DPRK Academy of Social Sciences have recently reconfirmed a lair of the unicorn rode by King Tong-myong, founder of the Koguryo Kingdom (B.C. 277-A.D. 668).”
The announcement was met with much mirth by the English-speaking world, but was of course simply a misunderstanding, born both of bad translation and lack of interest in giving North Koreans any credit. As South Koreans immediately understood, the DPRK was actually claiming to have discovered a historical site. The “lair of the unicorn” should have been capitalized to mark it as a proper name: the Lair of the Unicorn. Also the translator probably should not have bothered trying to translate the mythological beast’s name, since the kirin actually has no direct equivalent in Western mythologies. Calling it “Kirin Lair” might have been for the best.
- North Koreans are starving under communism.
“Many major news outlets worldwide [once] ran stories every autumn that the country was on the brink of a massive famine once again,” sighed Andrei Lankov in a March 27, 2014 article entitled “North Korea and the myth of starvation.”
In truth, “it is clearly not a starving country anymore.”
Lankov credits North Korea’s growing private economy with the change, attributing a staggering 75 percent of North Koreans’ household income to non-governmental trade that is still technically illegal.