North Korean Tales

[Hrafn]

Would anyone be interested in me putting up some short North Korean texts? When I visited Pyongyang in April 2013, I bought some pamphlet-like anthologies, containing folkloric stories about Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il, describing their feats and traits. Vignettes much in the same style as, say, certain stories about the acts of Jesus Christ.

[ArisVelouxiotis]

And then Kim Il Sung said to the villagers....

[Hrafn]

Here's one typical example, to give you an idea. It's from "Anecdotes of Kim Jong Il's Life", published in Juche 101 (2012) by the Foreign Languages Publishing House. It is featured in the chapter "Mystery", which primarily describes, well, mystical acts. There are also chapters such as "Wisdom" and "Modesty".

"It's Quite Strange"

One May day in 2000, in a field in North Phyongan Province situated in the northwest of the country, Kim Jong Il was discussing farm work with some officials. When he spotted a tractor at the roadside, he walked towards it.

He asked the tractor driver to start the engine.

The driver climbed into the tractor through the left door, and almost at once the sound of the engine starting could be heard.

After listening to the engine, Kim Jong Il approached the right door of the driver's cab.

The tractor driver was embarrassed, knowing that the door was broken.

Kim Jong Il took the handle and pulled. The door, which the driver had previously been unable to open however hard he had tried, opened easily.

Kim Jong Il looked inside the cab for a moment and shut the door. He then told the driver he should keep his tractor in a good state of repair.

After he left the field, a crowd gathered around the tractor. People tried to open the cab's right door, thinking it would be easy now that their leader had opened it. However, they were all unable to do so. They eventually succeeded in opening the door with the help of various tools.

Everyone commented how strange it was. It seemed even a tractor recognized the great man.

[Pinto Morais]

Would anyone be interested in me putting up some short North Korean texts?

Yes, please. They should be interesting.

[ArisVelouxiotis]

Here's one typical example, to give you an idea. It's from "Anecdotes of Kim Jong Il's Life", published in Juche 101 (2012) by the Foreign Languages Publishing House. It is featured in the chapter "Mystery", which primarily describes, well, mystical acts. There are also chapters such as "Wisdom" and "Modesty".

Am I the only one who is thinking that this is similar with Alexander the Great and the gordian knot?

[Rafiq]

No, Alexander did not waste effort in undoing the knot, he simply unsheathed his sword and sliced it in two.

[Os Cangaceiros]

If only Kim Jong Il was still around to lay hands on my Xbox.

[Creative Destruction]

wow. that shit is pretty insane.

[Hrafn]

Alroght, pretty good response. I'll get another text up soon.

[Comrade Jacob]

Damn, that's some cult they got there.

[Hrafn]

Here's one from the same anthology as the previous one, from the chapter "Wisdom".

(A quick note: All quotes by Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il are bolded in the original texts, to set them apart, so I'm including that.)

Profound Knowledge of Poultry

One September day in 1967 Kim Jong Il visited a chicken farm.

Some chickens were playing in the recreation area while others were laying eggs in the coops, which were equipped with automatic doors.

An official reported that they were the first batch of fattening chickens that had been hatched from eggs sent to the farm by Kim Il Sung. Kim Jong Il, with a satisfactory eye on the plump chickens, praised the farm for having raised the chickens well. Then he looked more closely at one chicken before asking, "Is that a fattener, too? That one pecking nervously at the feed."

The officials looked in the direction to which he was pointing, and saw a chicken fussing over its feed.

He asked if a laying chicken had got mixed with the fattener.

No one answered.

With a slight smile on his face, he said, "Fatteners are calm and never fuss, but laying chickens are nervous by nature."

Then he commented that it must be an excellent layer.

An official caught the chicken, and examined it. Kim Jong Il was right.

Even the breeders, who observed and examined the chickens every day to prevent one with different characters mixing, had failed to notice the chicken. However, Kim Jong Il had noticed the laying chicken among the thousands of similar-looking fatteners at first glance.

[DOOM]

Here's one typical example, to give you an idea. It's from "Anecdotes of Kim Jong Il's Life", published in Juche 101 (2012) by the Foreign Languages Publishing House. It is featured in the chapter "Mystery", which primarily describes, well, mystical acts. There are also chapters such as "Wisdom" and "Modesty".

What the actual fuck

[ArisVelouxiotis]

No, Alexander did not waste effort in undoing the knot, he simply unsheathed his sword and sliced it in two.

Neither did Kim.

[Craig_J]

These are very interesting to see, thank you for sharing!

I always thought these stories that were supposedly said were an exaggerated myth, frightening that they actually do exist!

[Hrafn]

These are very interesting to see, thank you for sharing!

I always thought these stories that were supposedly said were an exaggerated myth, frightening that they actually do exist!

Thank you all for the kind words. Nice to get feedback.

The interesting thing here, I think, is that the stories about Kim Jong-il are frequently highly mystical. Beyond great wisdom, powers of observation, kindness, etc., Jong-il also displays control over the weather, and a magical connection to inanimate objects, for example. From what I can tell, none of the stories about Il-sung show anything that is factually superhuman (and the anthology about him is about half as long as the one about the son).

[ArisVelouxiotis]

Thank you all for the kind words. Nice to get feedback.

The interesting thing here, I think, is that the stories about Kim Jong-il are frequently highly mystical. Beyond great wisdom, powers of observation, kindness, etc., Jong-il also displays control over the weather, and a magical connection to inanimate objects, for example. From what I can tell, none of the stories about Il-sung show anything that is factually superhuman (and the anthology about him is about half as long as the one about the son).

A better question would be.When you went there did people seem to believe those stories?

[Red Commissar]

These'd be interesting to scan and put online. Pretty bizarre.

[Hrafn]

A better question would be.When you went there did people seem to believe those stories?

I did interact with a lot of locals, but not in very verbal ways. As for the guides and the official tour stuff, very little was actually said about the leaders, and there weren't really many openings to ask "do you think Il-sung could mind-bend spoons?"

[Stalin Baratheon]

So many lies are said about North Korea (120 dogs killing Kim's uncle, extermination of disabled, extraction of teeth to stop a zombie invasion...) that unless you put an actual proof of that I will take it as another lie about North Korea, sorry.

[Creative Destruction]

So many lies are said about North Korea (120 dogs killing Kim's uncle, extermination of disabled, extraction of teeth to stop a zombie invasion...) that unless you put an actual proof of that I will take it as another lie about North Korea, sorry.

lol, jesus christ. are you serious?