North Korea's reclusive leader Kim Jong-Il has at least two nearly identical doubles to stand in for him at public appearances due to fears over his safety, South Korean intelligence officials said.
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North Korean leader Kim Jong-il inspects Korean People's Army unit 851 in this undated handout photo released Aug. 30. Korea News Service/Reuters
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"They are the spitting image of Kim — the same age, same height and with the same bouffant hairstyle and pot belly," an official told the Yonhap News Agency.
"As far as I know, at least two Kim Jong-Il look-alikes fill in for him for some lower profile official events to reduce the chances of Kim being exposed to terrorist attempts," said the official at the National Intelligence Service.
The look-alikes had plastic surgery and were trained to speak and act like the reclusive leader at public functions such as "on-spot guidance tours," the official said.
Kim participates in major events like the country's founding anniversary and mass military parades, but often orders his doubles to stand in for him at less important events, such as visits to industrial sites or farms, the official said.
Kim, who commands a cult of personality and is revered as a demigod in his isolated country, also sends his doubles when his health is bad and he doesn't want to look weak, Yonhap quoted the official as saying.
"I heard that their strong physical resemblance makes it hard to detect them even at close range, so many North Korean officials accompanying them don't know whether they are with the real Kim Jong-Il or one of his doubles," the official said. "North Korea-dispatched photos featuring Kim's profile are highly likely to be those of a stand-in," he said.
There have been occasional reports of terrorist attacks and assassination attempts on Kim, 63, who has ruled North Korea with an iron fist since his father, founding President Kim Il-Sung, died of heart failure in 1994.
A former North Korean military officer who defected to the South said Kim has used body doubles more frequently since the train blast in a North Korean border station town just after Kim's China trip in April 2004. Kim narrowly escaped a catastrophe since his heavily guarded train passed through the Ryongchon station on his way back from Beijing just hours before the explosion.
There has been speculation that the explosion was linked to an assassination attempt.
