From toilets to cigarette butts: How Kim Jong Un prevents spies from sniffing out his DNA
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has several measures in place to prevent enemies and spies from accessing anything personal from him. He even keeps his poop safe and carries his own toilet with him. What else does he do to prevent anything about him from leaking?
Kim Jong Un leaves nothing behind, not even his poop
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is paranoid when he travels abroad. He has a whole list of precautions he takes to prevent his DNA from being leaked. Kim even travels with his own toilet to bring his poop back home and to deter sewer divers from accessing his stools. While it all might sound strange, experts claim Kim does all this to keep himself and his regime back home safe.
Kim Jong Un takes his toilet with him everywhere
Kim takes his toilet with him everywhere he goes. He brought it on the bulletproof train he travelled in to China to attend the military parade to mark the 80th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II. He did it in 2018 for the North-South summit, and then in 2019 to Hanoi for the US-North Korea summit, and again in 2022 to Singapore for another US-North Korea summit.
Why does Kim carry his toilet with him?
Kim carries his own toilet with him for safety reasons. The regime is careful not to leave behind any traces of its leader's DNA on foreign trips. This includes keeping his poop safe, which can be used to know about his health conditions. Experts say that if information leaked about any medical problem that Kim might have, it would trigger chaos and chatter that could harm the regime.
Kim's cigarette ashes and butt
Kim is also particular about safeguarding his saliva. In 2019, while going to Vietnam for the North Korea–United States summit, his train stopped in southern China's Nanning. He came outside to smoke a cigarette, and his sister Kim Yo Jong stood there with an ashtray to collect the ashes and the cigarette butt. Kim also put the used matchstick back in the case.
Kim Jong Un safeguards his fingerprints
Kim Jong Un does not use any pens given by other countries during summits to sign official documents and agreements. The North Korean leader's officials carry pens for him, and he only uses them. This is done to prevent his fingerprints from leaking to the spies and officials of the host country.
Kim's hotel room is wiped clean to remove saliva, hair, fingerprints
While visiting a foreign country, Kim doesn't have the option to carry his own living space with him. So to ensure that the hotel room he stays in does not carry excretions from his body, his officials clean everything in the room thoroughly. They also clean all the utensils he uses themselves.
Kim fears assassination, and takes special steps
Being a dictator, Kim is also paranoid about being assassinated. While his security guards can watch for suspects who might be trying to harm him using guns and rifles, it is hard to look for chemical agents. For this purpose, they disinfect every surface Kim is expected to come in contact with. His chair is fully wiped, including the armrests and the back, multiple times. The officials even spray the disinfectant in the air to remove all traces of anything that could harm him.
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