Several local media outlets in South Korea reported on the possible shrinking of the Mummy Kim Il-Sung’s head on April 16, with quoting the Daily NK, a Seoul-based Internet news outlet that focuses on North Korean affairs.

The Daily NK reported [ko] on April 15 that Kim Il-Sung’s mummy has continued to shrink and added that this information is spreading rapidly, but clandestinely among North Korean people. The report quoted one defector’s testimony who had seen the mummy in 2002 and 2003. Kim Il-sung is late father of Kim Jong-il and founder of the communist regime and his body has been embalmed and left on public display in a glass coffin in the Kumsusan Memorial palace:

I have seen Kim’s mummy twice a year and it was noticeable that his head has gotten smaller. [...] And a high government official thought the same. [...] It is clear people have reached an agreement on the shrink-down of Kim’s head. But no body dares to publicly point this out, since admitting it would risk one’s life.

The report explains that a rumor about Lenin’s mummy which is stored in the Kremlin palace in Russia gave birth to such idea. For several years now, words have been circulating among Russians and North Korean students studying aboard that Lenin’s head is getting smaller.

North Korean expert, Andrei Lankov, told in an interview with Daily NK, that although the information on Mummy Lenin’s condition is confidential, so it is hard to verify about the size of his head, it is widely acknowledged that the Mummy Lenin’s condition has gradually deteriorated. A local expert added that it is natural for the embalmed body to shrink down when it loses water.

North Korean regime mummified Kim’s body in 1994 to apotheosize Kim. It is estimated that it costs about US 1 million dollars for the process and an additional US 0.8 million dollars each year just to maintain the body condition.