Kim Jong Un is reportedly lugging a private toilet to Singapore so no one can get ahold of his stools

(Image credit: Getty Images)

published 11 June 2018

Paranoia is often said to be a defining characteristic of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who traveled to Singapore this weekend on one of three airplanes — the other two being decoys to throw off any adversaries. Perhaps most illustratively, South Korea's Chosun Ilbo reports that Kim traveled to Singapore with a personal, portable toilet in order to deprive "determined sewer divers" from "insights into the supreme leader's stools."

But despite that sounding, well, totally nuts, Kim might actually be making a wise decision by keeping his excrement out of Singapore's sewers. Poop-divining is not unheard of, the New York Post observes: During the Cold War, the CIA allegedly obtained stool samples from Soviet leaders Mikhail Gorbachev and Nikita Khrushchev in order to gain insight into their health, and Josef Stalin also allegedly decided against signing an agreement with China's Mao Zedong in 1949 after collecting a sample of Mao's feces and using it to analyze his psychological profile.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Explore More

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.

Subscribe to The Week

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox