Kippumjo

Etymology

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

History

Kim Il Sung

A 2015 Fox News article, citing the South Korean newspaper The Chosun Ilbo, says that "pleasure squads" have reportedly existed since the administration of North Korea's first leader, Kim Il Sung. According to a 2003 article on the South Korean news website SisaFocus, it is said that the first group was recruited in 1978 by Ri Dong-ho, 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).

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.

Kim Jong Il

There were rumors that Kim Il Sung's son and successor, Kim Jong Il, also maintained a Kippumjo, according to an unnamed North Korean defector reported in the online newspaper Daily NK in 2013. The group that used to perform for Kim Jong Il was disbanded shortly after his death in December 2011, according to The Chosun Ilbo in April 2015. The newspaper said that members of Kim Jong Il's Kippumjo were 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.

Kim Jong Un

In 2015, Kim Jong Un, the son and successor to Kim Jong Il, was said to be seeking new members for his own Kippumjo after his father's group of women had been disbanded, according to The Chosun Ilbo.

Testimony

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, and Kenji Fujimoto, who says he was a chef to Kim Jong Il. Further testimony is provided by personal bodyguard Kang Jin.

Structure

According to 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 () – a satisfaction team (which provides sexual services)
2. Haengbokjo () – a happiness team (which provides massages)
3. Gamujo () – a dancing and singing team

Kippumjo is 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. 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. 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. Once recruited, members of the Kippumjo underwent extensive training, sometimes abroad, according to Mi-Hyang.

Martin adds that women retired from Kippumjo at 22 and married members of the country's elite. In the 2014 memoir of defector Jang Jin-sung, Dear Leader: Poet, Spy, Escapee – A Look Inside North Korea, Jang writes of the Kippumjo during the time of Kim Jong Il's rule 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." Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper reported in 2015 that many Kippumjo members were retired in their 20s and married military officers who were seeking wives.

Notes

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: ; Paperback: .

References

1. (3 April 2015). "North Korea reportedly recruiting women to joint 'pleasure squad' for Kim Jong Un". FoxNews.com.
2. link. (2003-07-02). Jung Soon-Young
3. 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". Asia Times.
4. (26 September 2013). "North in Ri Scandal Damage Control". [[Daily NK]].
5. (1 April 2015). "Kim Jong-un Picks New Members for 'Pleasure Squad'". [[The Chosun Ilbo]].
6. (2 April 2015). "Kim Jong-un reinstates 'pleasure troupe' harem of young women". The Independent.
7. Doré, Louis. (30 April 2016). "Kim Jong-un is recruiting a 'pleasure squad' of teenage girls".
8. Fernando, Gavin. (29 April 2016). "The secret sex parties of North Korea's elite".
9. (28 January 2010). "'Pleasure squad' defector sheds light on life of Kim Jong Il". The National.
10. Fifield, Anna. (8 January 2016). "What do we know about Kim Jong Un? Very little. That makes this guy an expert.". Washington Post.
11. (19 August 2025). "I Saw What Happens in Kim Jong Un's Secret Parties: Life of a North Korean Bodyguard". Dimple Video.
12. Becker, Jasper. (October 11, 2003). "North Korea: At Home With the Kims". [[Asia Times]].
13. Demick, Barbara. (2009). "Nothing to Envy; Ordinary Lives in North Korea". Spiegel and Grau.
14. (14 October 2014). "Without You, There Is No Us: My Time with the Sons of North Korea's Elite". Crown Publishing Group.