Kim Jong Il, the former Supreme Leader of North Korea, was known for his secretive and peculiar habits, one of which allegedly included employing a personal poop collector who accompanied him during travels. The primary reason for this unusual practice was Kim's deep-seated paranoia about his health and safety. He firmly believed that his feces could provide valuable information to foreign governments and intelligence agencies about his health condition, which in turn, could be used against him politically or strategically.
The poop collector's job was to ensure that all of Kim Jong Il’s waste was carefully gathered and kept in a sealed, secure case during trips. This was to prevent any possibility of analysis by foreign experts who might be seeking insights into his well-being and any potential vulnerabilities. Moreover, there were also rumors that his waste was disposed of in special procedures back in North Korea, but these procedures have remained as mysterious as many aspects of the regime.
This practice underscores the lengths to which North Korean leadership goes to maintain secrecy and control information. The regime's obsession with security and paranoia about espionage have been well-documented, but the measures taken to protect even the leader’s biological waste highlight an extraordinary level of caution.
Furthermore, such stories, while they may sound bizarre, contribute to the mythical status of North Korean leaders. They emphasize the hyper-centralized control and cult of personality that pervades the country's political and social culture. Such practices make it clear that in North Korea not even the most personal details of a leader’s life are too small for the regime’s security apparatus to manage, thereby reinforcing the total control the state seeks to maintain over both public and private lives. This serves as a reminder of the lengths to which some leaders will go to protect their privacy and the extent of control they exert over information in their pursuit of total dominance.
