Kippumjo

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Kippumjo
Chosŏn'gŭl
Hancha
기쁨組
Revised RomanizationGippeumjo
McCune–ReischauerKippŭmjo

The Kippumjo or Gippeumjo [1] (translated variously as Pleasure Group, Pleasure Groups, Pleasure Squad, or Pleasure Brigade) is an alleged collection of groups of approximately 2,000 women and girls reportedly maintained by the leader of North Korea for the purpose of providing entertainment, including that of a sexual nature, for high-ranking Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) officials and their families, as well as, occasionally, distinguished guests.

Little is known outside North Korea about the Kippumjo, and most reports are based on the accounts of North Koreans who have defected, particularly Mi-Hyang, who told the magazine Marie Claire in 2010 that she had been a Kippumjo member,[1][2] and Kenji Fujimoto, who says he was a chef to Kim Jong-il.[3]

Etymology[]

The first two syllables of the name, kippum, is a native Korean word meaning joy or happiness. The suffix jo (組) is a Sino-Korean word which describes a group of people, roughly analogous to the terms "squad" or "team".

Bradley K Martin's 2004 book Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader is based on a combination of visits to North Korea, research and interviews with defectors carried out in the early 1990s. Martin writes that Kim Il-sung was not just interested in pleasure, but also in rejuvenating himself through absorbing a young virgin's ki, or life-force, during sex.[4] He believed that having sexual relations with young women would increase his jing and have the effect of enhancing his life force, or gi (Chosŏn'gŭl: 기; Hancha: 氣; no relation to the ki in kippum).[citation needed]

History[]

According to Fox News, the Kippumjo have existed in North Korea since the administration of Kim Il-sung.[5] The first group was recruited by , the First Vice Director of the United Front Department of the Workers' Party of Korea, for the purpose of entertaining Kim at the Munsu Chodaeso (문수 초대소; Munsu Guesthouse). In 2015 the recruiting and training of Kippumjo were administered by the Fifth Department of Staff of the Organic Direction of the Party.[citation needed] In 2013 the online newspaper Daily NK reported that an unnamed North Korean defector had said that there were rumours that Kim Jong-il had maintained a kippumjo.[6]

In April 2015 the South Korean newspaper The Chosun Ilbo reported that the group that used to perform for Kim Jong-un's father, Kim Jong-il, was disbanded shortly after the elder Kim's death in December 2011. The members were supposedly made to sign a pledge of secrecy in exchange for money and gifts. According to the paper, the women who worked as entertainers received an amount of money worth up to $4,000 before returning to their hometowns. The members of the squad were also said to have received compensation in the form of home appliances.[7][5] The Chosun Ilbo also reported that Kim Jong-un was said to be seeking new members for his own Kippumjo, after his father's group of women had been disbanded.[7] The story appeared in Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper.[5][8][9]

Structure[]

According to the British journalist Jasper Becker writing for the Asia Times in 2003, a former bodyguard has said that each pleasure group was composed of three teams:

  1. Manjokjo (Chosŏn'gŭl: 만족조; Hancha: 滿足組) – a satisfaction team (which provides sexual services)
  2. Haengbokjo (Chosŏn'gŭl: 행복조; Hancha: 幸福組) – a happiness team (which provides massages)
  3. Gamujo (Chosŏn'gŭl: 가무조; Hancha: 歌舞組) – a dancing and singing team [10]

Kippumjo are briefly discussed in the 2009 book Nothing to Envy by US journalist Barbara Demick. The book is based on interviews with North Korean defectors. According to Demick, girls from throughout the country were recruited to be Kippumjo members according to government criteria.[11] Suki Kim, a Korean American journalist who has lived undercover in North Korea, wrote in 2014 that one of the criteria was that they had to be virgins.[12] In Bradley K Martin's 2004 book he says that schools recommended suitable teenage girls to recruiters, with their parents receiving enhanced status and money.[4] Once recruited, members of the Kippumjo underwent extensive training, sometimes abroad, according to Mi-Hyang.[1]

Martin adds that women retired from Kippumjo at 22 and married members of the country's elite.[4] In the 2014 memoir of defector Jang Jin-sung, Dear Leader: Poet, Spy, Escapee – A Look Inside North Korea, Jang writes that: "Most of them go into arranged marriages with personal guards or senior cadres cleared to work in foreign affairs. Some even go on to become cadres themselves."[1] Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper reported in 2015 that many Kippumjo members retired in their 20s and married military officers who were seeking wives.[5]

See also[]

Notes[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Fernando, Gavin (29 April 2016). "The secret sex parties of North Korea's elite". News.com.au.
  2. ^ Lee, Sunny (28 January 2010). "'Pleasure squad' defector sheds light on life of Kim Jong Il" (World). The National. Archived from the original on 13 April 2012. Retrieved 28 January 2010.
  3. ^ Fifield, Anna (8 January 2016). "What do we know about Kim Jong Un? Very little. That makes this guy an expert". Washington Post. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b c Yoel, Sano (June 4, 2005). "The Kims' North Korea: Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader: North Korea and the Kim Dynasty by Bradley K Martin". Book review. Asia Times. Archived from the original on 24 February 2017. Retrieved 2007-02-08.CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b c d "North Korea reportedly recruiting women to joint 'pleasure squad' for Kim Jong Un". Fox News. FoxNews.com. 3 April 2015. Archived from the original on 3 May 2017. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
  6. ^ Yong, Lee Sang (26 September 2013). "North in Ri Scandal Damage Control". Seoul, South Korea: Daily NK. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 11 March 2016.
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b "Kim Jong-un Picks New Members for 'Pleasure Squad'". The Chosun Ilbo. 1 April 2015. Archived from the original on 27 April 2017.
  8. ^ Buchanan, Rose Troup (2 April 2015). "Kim Jong-un reinstates 'pleasure troupe' harem of young women". The Independent. Archived from the original on 17 December 2015. Retrieved 11 March 2015.
  9. ^ Doré, Louis (30 April 2016). "Kim Jong-un is recruiting a 'pleasure squad' of teenage girls". indy100. Archived from the original on 3 May 2016. Retrieved 30 April 2016.
  10. ^ Becker, Jasper (October 11, 2003). "North Korea: At Home With the Kims". Asia Times. Archived from the original on 2007-06-01. Retrieved 2007-02-08.CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  11. ^ Demick, Barbara (2009). Nothing to Envy; Ordinary Lives in North Korea. Spiegel and Grau. ISBN 978-0-385-52390-5.
  12. ^ Kim, Suki (14 October 2014). Without You, There Is No Us: My Time with the Sons of North Korea's Elite. New York: Crown Publishing Group. p. 129. ISBN 978-0307720658.

References[]

  • Martin, Bradley K. (2004). Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader: North Korea and the Kim Dynasty. New York, New York, United States: Thomas Dunne Books. Hardcover: ISBN 978-0-312-32221-2; Paperback: ISBN 978-0-312-32322-6.

External links[]

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