Apparently according to Kim Jong Un, imitation is not the finest form of flattery.
North Korea is forcing every person who has the same name as its leader to change their names, as reports South Korea’s KBS television.
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Specifically, that means individuals must stop identifying themselves with the name and remove it from both their birth certificates and their residence registrations.
Predictably, newborn children are also not permitted to be graced with the name.
While strange, the name changing order seems to be a trend in North Korea. The two leaders who proceeded Kim Jong Un — his father and grandfather — enforced similar bans in the country.
“The ban is highly possible since North Korea had the same policy in the era of Kim Jong Il and Kim Il Sung,” explained an official at South Korea’s Unification Ministry who could not confirm the report without a doubt.
Un is obviously intent on controlling the people of North Korea, at least when it comes to their names and their cigarettes. Just yesterday, a report surfaced that the leader has forbidden his officials from smoking foreign cigarettes.
H/T Reuters
