North Korea’s founder Kim Il Sung did not have the ability to teleport, state media finally admits
- North Korean official media is known for outlandish claims about its ruling family
- But a state newspaper said Kim Il Sung was not capable of ‘shrinking the earth’
- Analysts say it is a sign that Kim Jong-un is downplaying the supernatural image
North Korea‘s founder Kim Il Sung did not have the power to teleport, state media has admitted – shooting down a popular myth.
The late Kim ruled from 1948 to 1994 and is still revered as the ‘eternal president’ but ‘shrinking the earth’ to travel in an instant was not among his skills, an article said.
North Korea’s official media is known for making outlandish claims about its leaders, maintaining a personality cult which treats them like gods.
But analysts say the latest article is a sign that current leader Kim Jong-un is playing down the supernatural image, Radio Free Asia reported.
North Korea’s founder Kim Il Sung (pictured left) could not teleport, official media says, in what analysts say is a sign that current leader Kim Jong-un (right) is playing down the supernatural image of the ruling family
The article called The Secret To Teleportation appeared in official newspaper Rodong Shinmun, which is run by the ruling party.
It brought up a 1940s legend which said that Kim Il Sung had confounded Japanese occupiers with a technique called ‘chukjibeop’ or ‘folding space’ – using the magical skill to lead his guerrilla forces to victory.
But in reality, ‘people can’t disappear and reappear by folding space’, the newspaper declared.
Kim himself had admitted this, the article claimed, saying at the time that his victory was down to popular support rather than magic.
South Korea’s Unification Ministry said it was the first known occasion of a Kim family myth being officially debunked in this way.
‘We need to pay attention to the current leader’s denial of the mythification of his predecessors,’ a ministry official said.
Yoo Dong-ryul of the Korea Institute of Liberal Democracy said Kim Jong-un prefers more realistic propaganda which he thinks will be more widely believed.
‘Kim Jong-un has studied in Europe and has a European way of thinking,’ he said, referring to the despot’s education in Switzerland.
Kim Il Sung established North Korea’s one-party state in 1948, running a communist regime with Soviet backing after the end of Japanese rule.
Kim Jong-un’s absence from an official celebration of Kim Il Sung’s birthday on April 15 (pictured) sparked speculation about his health last month
In 1950 he tried to conquer the South but the Korean War ended in stalemate after three years, leaving the peninsula divided by the world’s most militarised frontier.
The two Koreas are technically still at war because the conflict ended in a truce rather than a peace agreemeent.
Kim died in 1994, succeeded by his son Kim Jong-il who ruled until his own death in 2011 which propelled Kim Jong-un into the top job.
Both the younger Kims have been attributed with supernatural skills by official media, such as the power to control the weather.
Last year Kim was pictured riding a white stallion on the slopes of a sacred mountain in another claim of supreme strength.
Kim’s health was recently in doubt when he mysteriously vanished from public view for several weeks and missed the celebration of Kim Il Sung’s birthday.
Rumours swirled that Kim was seriously ill or dead, and official media was curiously slow to debunk them.
However, Kim finally resurfaced earlier this month and recently hosted a meeting to discuss the country’s nuclear capabilities.
Nuclear talks with Washington have been at a stalemate since Kim’s second summit with Donald Trump ended in failure last year.