North Korea

1. North Korea Strange “Facts” about Kim Jong Il

2. He was born under a double-rainbow. According to North Korean historical literature, Kim Jong Il was born in a log cabin inside a secret base on Korea’s most sacred mountain, Mt. Paekdu. At the moment of his birth, a bright star lit up the sky, the seasons spontaneously changed from winter to spring, and rainbows appeared. This contradicts way less interesting Western accounts of his birth, which state the dictator was born in a guerilla camp in Russia, while his father was on the run from the Japanese.

3. He loves waterslides. Recently-taken satellite imagery of some of Kim Jong-Il's personal mansions (the Communist leader had at least 17) show that the leader made great efforts to build and maintain a series of ludicrously loopy waterslides.

4. He kidnapped short people. In preparation for the World Festival of Youth and Students in 1989, Kim Jong Il had disabled residents removed from Pyongyang. The government also distributed pamphlets advertising a wonder drug that would increase the height of short people. Those who responded to the pamphlets were sent away to different uninhabited islands along with the disabled in an attempt to rid the next generation of their supposedly substandard genes.

5. The world loves him. According to state-run media, Kim Jong Il is the most prominent statesman in the present world, and people in countries the whole planet over celebrate his birthday with films and festivals. In reality, most nations are confused by his erratic foreign policy decisions on important issues such as N. Korea’s nuclear program.

6. He was the world’s greatest sportsman According to national media, in 1994 Kim Jong Il shot a record-breaking round of golf in which he achieved 11 holes-in-one, and a total score of 38-- by far the greatest score in history. Oh, and it was his first time ever playing the game. No other media organization reported the news, however…

7. He could control the weather. According to reports the former leader spread rumors that he could make it rain on demand, depending on his mood.

8. He kidnapped two directors to remake Godzilla. Kim Jong Il loved movies - he had a collection of more than 20,000 - and his 1973 book 'On The Art Of Cinema' became a manual for North Korean directors. Disappointed with their work, however, he took matters into his own hands. No, he didn't direct a film himself, as far as we know. Instead he kidnapped two respected South Korean directors in 1978 (Shin Sang Ok and ChoiEunHee) and forced them to remake Godzilla. Their movie, Pulgasari, only emerged after the couple were forced to remarry in 1983 having spent years inside labor camps. They eventually escaped on a trip to Vienna, where they fled to the US embassy in 1986.

9. He drank $700,000 worth of cognac in one year. For a few years in the early 1990s, it was confirmed by Hennessy that Kim Jong Il was it’s best customer, spending about $600,000 to $850,000 annually on the liquor. He is partial to the Paradise cognac, which can sell for over $700 per bottle. In comparison, the average North Korean makes about $1000 per year.

10. He did not use toilets… because he didn’t need to. According to an official biography posted on the North Korean state web site, that has since been removed, Kim Jong-il did not defecate.

11. He and his son are obsessed with the NBA. Swiss-educated Kim Jong-un was apparently obsessed with professional basketball and worshipped Kobe Bryant of the LA Lakers. Friends who knew him said that he was a "fiercely competitive player" even though he was also shy and awkward with girls. He was not aggressively anti-American and had photographs of himself with NBA players. No one is sure of when they were taken.

12. He considered himself to be an internet expert. North Korean citizens were not able to freely use mobile phones or the Internet, but Kim considered himself to be a communications expert. "I'm an Internet expert too," he told South Korea's president in 2007. "It's all right to wire the industrial zone only, but there are many problems if other regions of the North are wired."

13. He forced his staff to become drug addicts. One of Kim's former staff members wrote a book in which he said that the Dear Leader forced his men to take the same painkillers as him so that he would not be the only one who became addicted after falling off a horse. Thoughtful.

14. He created a fake city. Kijong-Dong is a propaganda city that was originally built in the 1950s by Kim Jong Il’s father right on the border, this was to display the North’s superiority to the South and also to encourage people to defect. It has no actual residents, but an extensive effort has been put forth to simulate a functioning city, including lights on set timers, and street sweepers to create an illusion of activity. The use of modern telescopes has revealed that the units lack window glass, and some buildings are just concrete shells that don’t even have interior rooms. The city also houses the world’s largest flagpole, complete with a 300lb. North Korean flag.

15. He was obsessed with rice. According to a nephew of Kim's first wife, Lee Young Nam, the leader had female staff inspect each grain of rice he ate to make sure it adhered to standards of length, weight and color.

16. He invented hamburgers. North Korean newspaper MinjuJoson once reported that Kim Jong Il had invented something called the "double bread with meat" and created factories to produce them in order to feed his students and teachers. Given North Korea's anti-American stance it wasn't politic to admit they were in fact hamburgers.

17. He ate donkeys. One of Kim's former chefs reported in 2004 that the leader developed a taste for nice French wine, lobster and donkey meat.