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30acb86
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The fervor and single-mindedness of this deification probably have no precedent in history. It's not like Duvalier or Assad passing the torch to the son and heir. It surpasses anything I have read about the Roman or Babylonian or even Pharaonic excesses. An estimated $2.68 was spent on ceremonies and monuments in the aftermath of Kim Il Sung's death. The concept is not that his son is his successor, but that his son is his . North Korea has an equivalent of Mount Fuji--a mountain sacred to all Koreans. It's called Mount Paekdu, a beautiful peak with a deep blue lake, on the Chinese border. Here, according to the new mythology, Kim Jong Il was born on February 16, 1942. His birth was attended by a double rainbow and by songs of praise (in human voice) uttered by the local birds. In fact, in February 1942 his father and mother were hiding under Stalin's protection in the dank Russian city of Khabarovsk, but as with all miraculous births it's considered best not to allow the facts to get in the way of a good story.
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religion
ancient-egypt
ancient-rome
babylon
baekdu-mountain
bashar-al-assad
dynasties
francois-duvalier
hafez-al-assad
haiti
jean-claude-duvalier
joseph-stalin
khabarovsk
kim-il-sung
kim-jong-il
kim-jong-suk
miraculous-births
mount-fuji
north-korea
reincarnation
syria
mythology
atheism
russia
china
rome
egypt
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Christopher Hitchens |