Imagine living your entire life using the name that was given to you at birth and then having the government tell you that you have to change it.
We’re not at that point in the United States (yet) but in North Korea that’s exactly what everyone with the name “Jong-Un” is being forced to do.
North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un apparently loves his name so much that he’s decided that no one else can use it. Since Jong-un is quite a popular name in the country it looks like a lot of people are going to have to look for a new set of monogramed towels.
Apparently Kim Jong- Un has been enforcing this policy since he came to power in 2011, but it’s difficult to get news out of the Hermit Kingdom so South Korean officials are only now announcing that they confirmed what they have suspected for some time.
“It’s true that in North Korea, they now allow only one Jong-un,” said an anonymous South Korean official.
The name ban isn’t an idea that Kim Jong-Un came up with on his own, nor was it a suggestion from his basketball buddy, Dennis Rodman. Both his father, Kim Jong-Il and Grandfather Kim Il-Sun enforced the same policy when they ruled the country.
Now this bizarre trend in the cult of personality that is the Kim dictatorship has been passed down to the new generation. This means that parents are banned from naming their children Jong-Un and those who already have the name must register with new names.
The Kim’s has long used bizarre—and often cruel—methods to get the country’s citizens to believe that they are not simply rulers, but Gods. This would appear to be part of that strategy.