Doppelganger

Doppelganger (pronounced dop-uhl-gang-er or daw-puhl-geng-er (German))

(1) In legend, a ghostly apparition of a living person, especially one that haunts such a person.

(2) A counterpart of a living person, identical in appearance; a person remarkably similar in appearance to another.

(3) In the pop-culture fantasy genre, a monster that takes the forms of people, usually after killing them.

(4) An evil twin (often as alter ego)

1826 (1824 as a German word in English): From the German Doppelgänger, literally "double-goer" or “double walker” originally with a ghostly sense.  Although now less common, it was once sometimes the practice to use the half-English spelling doubleganger.  Doppel was from doppelt (double), from doppeln (double (made up of two matching or complementary elements)), from the Old French doble (to double), from the Latin dūplus, from the Proto-Italic dwiplos, the construct being duo (two) +‎ plus, from the Old Latin plous, from the Proto-Italic plous, from the primitive Indo-European pleh- & pelhu- (many) and cognate with the Ancient Greek πολύς (polús) (many) and the Old English feolo (much, many).  It was influenced by the Ancient Greek διπλόος (diplóos) (double), the construct being δι- (di-), from δύο (dúo) (two), + -πλόος (-plóos) (-fold) and the Proto-Germanic twīflaz (doubt). A doublet of Zweifel.  Gänger was from Middle High German genger (to go, to walk), the construct being Gang +‎ -er.  Gang was from the Middle High German ganc, from the Old High German gang, from the Proto-Germanic gangaz (pace, step, gait, walk) and cognate with the English gang.  The synonyms in the various senses include double, lookalike, dead-ringer & alter ego.

Kim Jong-un, 2019-2020.

Rumors that Kim Jong-un (b circa 1994, Supreme Leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea, the DPRK) since 2011) was incapacitated with (unspecified) health problems spiked in late 2021 when he appeared looking notably thinner than in his appearances only months earlier, the conspiracy theory hinging on the idea the part of the Supreme Leader was being played by a doppelganger.  Most speculation centered on Mr Kim’s apparently chronic obesity, chain smoking and legendarily enthusiastic intake of his favorite Swiss cheese, some suggesting the doppelganger would fulfill the role until a team of foreign doctors working in secret restored the Supreme Leader to good working order while others opined he may actually be dead and the elite of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea (the WPA, a kind of cross between the a communist party and the Kim family’s holding company) was just buying time while they worked out what to do next.

Noted DPRK watchers, the National Intelligence Service (NIS), the Republic of Korea's (South Korea, the ROK) spy agency, dismissed the idea and said the new, sexy, slimmed-down Supreme Leader was real, their findings based on a comparison using facial recognition software, weight-tracking models and analysis of high-resolution video.  According to the NIS, Mr Kim’s weight which by 2019 had reached 142 kg (313 lb), less than a year later had further ballooned to around 146 kg (322 lb) while his appearances in late 2021 indicated a loss of between 20-25 kg (44-55 lb).  They added he appeared to be in rude good health.

Kim Jong-un, 2021.

If that’s true, the weight-loss could be accounted for either by Mr Kim’s desire to slim down for reasons of health or may be political, the DPRK facing one of its worst food shortages in many years and he may wish to convey the impression he’s sharing in the deprivations being suffered by his people.  Various seasonal factors would anyway have squeezed the food supply but the COVID-19 measures taken certainly exacerbated the problem, the closure of the borders inducing the sharpest economic contraction since the loss in the early 1990s of economic assistance from the Soviet Union.  The DPRK’s trade with its main trading partner, the People’s Republic of China (PRC), dropped by between 80-90% from pre-pandemic levels and the NIS noted it was the “mismanagement” of the economy which had caused inflation rates to surge beyond that afflicting all but a few other countries but, with a chronic shortage of ink and paper, the DPRK was unable to resort to the short-term expedient of printing money.  Still, things appear not actually on the point of collapse, ballistic missile tests continuing and the COVID-19 policy has, as stated by official DPRK propaganda, proved an outstanding success, Pyongyang confirming the country has suffered zero cases since the pandemic began.  It does seem to prove a “shoot to kill” border policy works, something a few Western politicians have long suspected and probably longed for.

Kim Jong-un looking at morning tea.

Targeted sanctions imposed in response to the regime’s nuclear weapons recalcitrance had already resulted in some humanitarian suffering but the closure of the PRC-DPRK border and has increased this by blocking shipments of grain, fertilizer and farming equipment.  Severe flooding caused by powerful typhoons in 2020 which so lowered that year’s harvest also had effects which lingered, crop yields again very low in 2021.  It had become so bad that in a rare public admission, Mr Kim in 2021 told a Worker’s Party meeting that the “people’s food situation is now getting tense” and his immediate policy switch was to order all citizens to devote all their effort to farming, making sure to secure “every grain” of rice.  With apparently all NGO and UN staff having left the country, most sources of foreign aid have evaporated and the DPRK is more dependent on its own resources than at any time since the end of the Korean War (1950-1953).  All this might explain Mr Kim’s weight-loss, although not yet obviously malnourished, he’s at least setting an example.

Manchu Tuan, Shenyang, PRC (left) and the Supreme Leader (right).

In general circulation, Kim Jong-un doppelgangers are not actually rare, at least two known to be available for hire from talent agencies.  Regardless of what happens in the DPRK, it may be a good gig because in 2012, satirical site The Onion named Kim Jong-un the world’s sexiest man, either because he was, in their words, “devastatingly handsome” or a nod to Henry Kissinger’s (b 1923; US secretary of state 1973-1977) claim (actually probably a boast) that “power is the ultimate aphrodisiac”.  The Onion’s winner in 2011 had been Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad (b 1965; president of Syria 2000-) so the editors may have found Dr Kissinger persuasive.  Manchu Tuan sells kebabs in the north-eastern Chinese city of Shenyang and says business has boomed since this resemblance to Mr Kim appeared on social media and he has hired another cook to prepare the kebabs, much of his time now absorbed with customers taking selfies with him.

Donald Trump doppelganger: Dolores Leis Antelo, a farmer from Nanton, La Coruna, Spain.  The two are reportedly not related and have never met.

Shao Jianhua Changsha, Hunan, PRC and his queue of selfie-requesting customers.

Shao Jianhua, who five years ago moved from his native Zhejiang to Changsha, makes and sells meat pies with dried and pickled vegetables, a dish associated with costal Zhejiang.  His shop operates from a cluster near the university halls of residence and the students, although very fond of his highly-regarded pies, also request selfies, business having expanded since word spread of his resemblance to PRC president Xi Jinping (b 1953; PRC president 2013-).  Mr Shao, whose pies sell for 3.5 yuan (US$0.55) has increased production to 1,600 a day during peak season and the queues are frequently long.

The conspiracy theorists do apply some science to their subjects.  Of particular interest are ears, cosmetic surgeons noting that ears are so difficult to modify to match those of another person and that latex versions attached with surgical glue are the best solution for these purposes although even with these there are limitations.  It’s not the first time a head of government’s ears have attracted interest.  In 1939, Adolf Hitler (1889–1945; Führer of Germany 1933-1945) sent his court photographer Heinrich Hoffmann (1885–1957) with the party which in 1939 went to Moscow to execute the Nazi-Soviet Pact, his task, inter alia, to get a good shot of Comrade Stalin’s (1878-1953; Soviet leader 1924-1953) ear-lobes, the Führer wishing to be reassured his new (and temporary) ally’s lobes were “separate and Ayran” and not “attached and Jewish”.  He was satisfied with Hoffman’s evidence but that didn’t stop him later double-crossing Stalin.

Front and back of blood sample of prisoner #7 (Hess), “Spandau #7 Pathology SVC Heidelberg MEDDAC 1139.

The flight to England by Rudolf Hess (1894–1987; Deputy Führer 1933-1941) in 1941, an attempt to persuade the British to conclude the war on the eve of the invasion of Russia, was one of the strangest episodes of the war and whether or not his flight was approved by Hitler remained a matter of conjecture for decades although the available evidence does suggest the Führer was as shocked as everyone else.  Another conspiracy theory ran for years, that of whether the Hess the British produced for trial in Nuremberg (1945-1946) and who was subsequently imprisoned in Spandau until his suicide (other conspiracy theories explore this) in 1987 was actually a doppelganger.  Books with various explanations about why the British might have done this were written, including one by a doctor who examined Hess while a prisoner and couldn’t reconcile his physiology with the injuries he’s suffered while serving in the Imperial Army in the First World War.  Eventually even the suspicious authors conceded the incarcerated Hess was the real one and in 2019, after one of Hess’s hermetically sealed blood samples was discovered and subjected to a DNA analysis which found a 99.99% likelihood of a match with one of Hess’s living relatives.

Lindsay Lohan and body double during filming of Irish Wish (Netflix), scheduled for release in 2023.

The most obvious doppelgangers are "body doubles", actors used when filming scenes when, for whatever reason, the lead actor can't be used.  Such are the tricks and techniques of film production, the body doubles don't have to be even close to exact doppelgangers, they need only be vaguely similar though they often share some distinctive characteristic (such a long red hair).  Generally, body doubles are used for three reasons:

(1) Dangerous stunts: Body doubles with specific expertise are often hired to perform dangerous scenes, such as car chases, fight scenes, or jumps from great heights.

(2) Time constraints: In some cases, the lead actor or actress may not be available to film certain scenes due to scheduling conflicts.  In these situations, a body double can be used to film the scene in their place, allowing production to continue without delay.

(3) Privacy: In some instances, actors may not wish to appear in certain scenes, typically those involving nudity.  Sometimes contractual clauses include these stipulations.

Wraith

Wraith (pronounced reyth)

(1) The apparition of a person living (or thought to be alive), said to appear as a portent of impending death.

(2) A visible spirit; a ghost or any apparition.

(3) In art or graphic design, a a deliberately insubstantial (sometimes even translucent) copy or representation of something.

(4) Something pale, thin and lacking in substance (a column of smoke; swirling mist etc).

1510s: A word of uncertain etymology.  Some trace it back to an Old English from the Old Norse reith or reidh (twisted or angry) and in Old English it evolved into wrethe (used generally to refer to “anger, fury or vengeance”).  As Middle English emerged it shifted to wraith which came to be associated with “a ghost or spirit, especially one thought to be the spirit of one dead or about to die”.  The link between the earlier meanings of anger and the later association with spirits may reflect the origins of the modern idea of “a restless or vengeful spirit”.  Most however prefer a connection with early sixteenth century Middle Scots, some suggesting it was from a translation of the Aeneid (29-19 BC), the epic poem written by the Roman poet Virgil (Publius Vergilius Maro (70–19 BC)) which recounts the legend of Aeneas, a Trojan who fled the fall of Troy to travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Romans.  That view has limited support although many etymologist do seem to agree it was in Middle Scots the form was first popularized, probably as warth, word meaning something like or related to “ghost”, the word perhaps from the Old Norse vorðr (“watcher or guardian” (in the sense of “guardian angel”), source of the Icelandic vörður (guard) and which may also have been an influence on the Gaelic & Irish arrach (specter, apparition)."  Wraith & wrathfulness are nouns, wraithlike, wraithesque, wraithful & wraithish are adjectives and wrathfully is an adverb; the noun plural is wraiths.

A wraith-like Lindsay Lohan, Las Angeles, 2008.  In art or graphic design, a wraith is a deliberately insubstantial (sometimes even translucent) copy or representation of something.  It’s used also of something or someone pale and thin, especially in reaction to sudden or considerable weight-loss.

More speculative is the idea of any link with the Middle English wray or bewray and few are convinced any exist despite the similarity in form (something anyway hardly unusual in English).  Even the origin of wray is contested although the orthodox history contends it was from the Middle English wrayen, wraien & wreien (to show, make known, accuse), from the Old English wrēġan (to urge, incite, stir up, accuse, impeach), from the Proto-Germanic wrōgijaną (to tell; tell on; announce; accuse), from the primitive Indo-European were- or wrē- (to tell; speak; shout).  It was said to be akin to the Dutch wroegen (to blame), the German rügen (to reprove) and the Swedish röja (to betray; reveal; expose).  Beray was from the Middle English bewraien, bewreyen & biwreyen, from the Old English bewrēġan, from the Proto-Germanic biwrōgijaną (to speak about; tell on; inform of), the construct being be- +‎ wray.  It was cognate with the Old Frisian biwrōgja (to disclose, reveal), the Dutch bewroegen (to blame; accuse), the Middle Low German bewrȫgen (to accuse; complain about; punish), the Old High German biruogen (to disclose, reveal) and the Modern German berügen (to defraud).  The attraction of the idea of a relationship between wray or beray and wraith is the use of wraith to mean a “vengeful” spirit.

JRR Tolkien (1892–1973), a philologist (is the study of language in oral and written historical sources) of some note, favored a link with writhe on the basis of the sense of “writhing; bodily distorted” (as in a ghost or apparition).  Writhe was from the Middle English writhen, from the Old English wrīþan, from the Proto-West Germanic wrīþan, from the Proto-Germanic wrīþaną (to weave, twist, turn), from the primitive Indo-European wreyt- (to twist, writhe).  It was cognate with the Middle Dutch writen (to turn, twist), the dialectal German reiden (to turn; twist around), the Danish vride (to twist), the Swedish vrida (to turn, twist, wind) and the French rider (to wrinkle, furrow, ruffle).

Not quite what she meant: Gretchen Wieners (Lacey Chabert (b 1982)) in Mean Girls (2004).

In late eighteenth century English, the noun “fetch” could mean “apparition of a living person, specter, a double”, from fetch-life (a deity, spirit, etc who guides the soul of a dead person to the afterlife (a psychopomp)) the source an English dialect word of unknown origin but which may have been from the Old English fæcce (evil spirit formerly thought to sit on the chest of a sleeping person; a mare) and may have been related to or even from the Old Irish fáith (seer, soothsayer).  The (now archaic) "fetch candle" was a mysterious light, which, when seen at night, was believed to foretell a person's death.  The Irish idea of the fetch and the fetch light describes the apparition associated with impending death (commonly in English now called a wraith).  The fetch or wraith was a doppelganger (double) of the dying who appeared when the time was approaching for them to need their spirit to guide them to the afterworld (ie act as a psychopomp).  The poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822) and the writer Goethe (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1749–1832) are among those who described seeing their own wraiths although most are said to have been visible only to those surrounding the dying.

1952 Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith with touring limousine coachwork by Park Ward.

Rolls-Royce has for almost a century used model names which summon imagery of the silently ethereal including Ghost, Phantom, Seraph, Shadow, Spirit, Spectre & Wraith.  The first Wraiths were introduced in 1938 and although World War II (1939-1945) interrupted things, almost 500 chassis left the factory between then and 1946.  The name was revived in 1946 when the company introduced their first post-war model as the Silver Wraith and although stylistically there would be nothing like the imaginative lines of the new US cars, the underpinnings were significantly modernized and the model would remain in the catalogue until 1958 with almost 2000 chassis produced.  Unlike the smaller Silver Dawn (1949-1955), the factory would only ever supply the Wraith rolling chassis to coachbuilders who would fabricate the bodies in accordance with customer preference although, the (slightly) higher-performance Bentley version was available with what came to be known as the “standard steel body”.

1971 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow long-wheelbase (LWB) saloon with central division (top) and 1979 Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith (bottom).

Within two years of the introduction of the Silver Shadow (1965-1980), a long-wheelbase (“LWB” which gained an additional 4 inches (100 mm) odd of rear-seat leg room) version had been produced and this configuration was introduced as a factory option in most markets between 1969-1971.  Built sometimes with an electrically operated glass division (the associated hardware absorbing most of the gained rear legroom) production continued on a small scale until 1976 when the Silver Shadow II was released at which point the LWB was re-branded as the Sliver Wraith II, incorporating not only the Shadow’s worthwhile mechanical improvements (which was good) but also carrying-over the vinyl roof (which was bad).  Rolls-Royce always used a brand of high-quality vinyl called “Everflex” and never used the word “vinyl”.  The re-naming followed the practice adopted in 1971 when the Silver Shadow two-door saloon (1966-1971) and convertible (1967-1971 and then known as a Drophead Coupé (DHC)) was renamed Corniche which, in convertible form would last until 1995, the saloon retired in 1980.

2015 Rolls-Royce Wraith.  The “Starlight headliner” was fabricated by weaving some 1300 strands of fibre-optic cable into the ceiling’s leather lining.  In the US market the option listed at US$14,700, a cost which reflected the high labor component in the production process and it should be compared with the bespoke audio system option which cost US$8,625 (the bulk of the input costs of the audio system was in mass-produced solid-state components).  Rolls-Royce has confirmed the 2023 Wraiths will be their last V12 coupés, the replacement (electric) Spectre going on sale in 2024. 

When introduced in 2013, it was the first time since 1946 the word “Wraith” had been used by the factory as a stand-alone model name.  Only ever available as a two door hardtop (no central pillar) coupé, the Wraith used the highly regarded 6.6 litre (402 cubic inch), twin-turbocharged BMW V12 used in their flagship 7 Series (G11 2015-2022) in happier times.  As is the modern practice at Rolls-Royce, a number of limited production runs of special models were available in the decade the Wraith was made but the platform also attracted the tuners, some emphasizing addition power, some additional stuff, all with high-price tags.

Mansory’s original version of the Rolls-Royce Wraith (top) was almost restrained, something later abandoned when the “Palm Edition 999” (bottom) was released.

German-based Mansory modifies high-priced cars, boosting both power and bling.  A particular specialty is carbon-fibre fabrication, the standard of their work acknowledged as world class and their approach to engineering is also sound, something not always achieved by those who make already highly tuned engines more powerful still.  The appearance (inside & out) of the machinery they modify doesn’t suit all tastes but their success proves a market exists for such things and their sales in markets like the Middle East and India proves that east of Suez there’s a receptive (and rich) audience.  Things from Rolls-Royce, Ferrari et al are anyway expensive but for Mansory (an others) the target market is not millionaires but billionaires, some of the latter needing accessories to prove they’re not merely one of the former.  Just to make sure the message was getting through however, when Rolls-Royce released their SUV (sports utility vehicle), Mansory badged their take as the Rolls-Royce Cullinan Mansory Billionaire (the project a co-development with the German fashion house Billionaire).  Disappointingly perhaps, it was advertised with a list price well under US$1 million.  In the long-running cartoon show The Simpsons, nuclear power-plant co-owner C Montgomery Burns used the phrase “price taggery” in one sense but it's applied also when discussing Veblen goods produced for the "conspicuous consumption" market; there, the purpose of the product is to advertise one's disposable income and a well-publicized (high) price-tag is essential.  

The electric Rolls-Royce Spectre.  Instead of an internal combustion engine, the Spectre is powered by two electric motors producing a combined net 577 horsepower and 664 pound-feet of torque.  There was a time when Rolls-Royce would never have painted their cars purple but the catchment of those with the resources to buy or lease (rent) such things has expanded to include many whose tastes come from different traditions.  It's not the difference between good and bad taste; it's just a difference.

Rolls-Royce has announced its intention by 2030 to offer a range of vehicles powered exclusively by electric propulsion.  For Rolls-Royce, the engineering and financial challenges aside, the obstacles are few because, unlike an operation like Ferrari which for decades has based part of its mystique on the noise its engines make at full-cry, it has always put a premium of silence and smoothness.  Enzo Ferrari (1898-1988) said it was the howl of the V12 Packard engines (which he dubbed “the song of 12”) he heard on the race tracks which convinced him to make the V12 the signature configuration for the cars which would bear his name but for Charles Rolls (1877–1910), the co-founder of Rolls-Royce, the most influential sound was its absence.  In 1904, he had the opportunity to ride in Columbia Electric car and, knowing what so many of his customers craved, was most impressed, noting: “The electric car is perfectly noiseless and clean. There is no smell or vibration. They should become very useful when fixed charging stations can be arranged.”  So, in 120-odd years not much has changed.  Ferrari are doubtlessly hoping the hydrogen re-fueling infrastructure develops at a similarly helpful rate, the exhaust note from exploding hydrogen able to be as intoxicating as that of burning hydrocarbons.

Dynasty

Dynasty (pronounced dahy-nuh-stee (US English); din-uh-stee (UK English)

(1) A sequence of rulers from the same family, stock, or group.

(2) The rule of such a sequence.

(3) A series of members of a family who are distinguished for their success in business, wealth creation etc.

(4) In sport, a team or organization which has an extended period of success or dominant performance (technically unrelated to family links or even and great continuity in personnel).

(5) As used specifically in East Asian history, the polity or historical era under the rule of a certain dynasty.

1425-1475: From the Middle English dynastia, from the Middle French dynastie, from the Late Latin dynastia, from the Ancient Greek δυναστεία (dunasteía) (power, dominion, lordship, sovereignty) from dynasthai (have power), of unknown origin.  The adjective dynastic (from 1800) is used when speaking or, relating to or pertaining to a dynasty; dynastical attested since 1730.  A dynast (hereditary ruler) is from the 1630s, from the Late Latin dynastes, from the Greek dynastes (ruler, chief, lord, master).  Synonyms include house & lineage.  Dynasty & dynast are nouns, dynastic & dynastical are adjectives and dynastically is an adverb; the noun plural is dynasties.

The word is widely used of the ruling families of nations associated with royalty (Hapsburg dynasty, Romanov dynasty, Hohenzollern dynasty) and remains the standard term in the historiography of Imperial China (Ming dynasty, Qing dynasty, Song dynasty, Tang dynasty, Yuan dynasty).  In political science it’s a popular use (verging on a slur) to describe the political arrangements concocted when a ruler attempts (sometimes with success) to pass the office (and thus their country) to a descendent (usually the eldest or most demonstrably ruthless son), examples including the Congo, Syria and Cambodia.  Sometimes, polities organized in this manner can give rise to what is known as a subdynasty (which seems never to hyphenated), an idea borrowed from European history when royal families routinely would provide offspring to serve as kings of other states, thereby creating a new dynasty; sometimes this worked well, sometimes not.

In politics, families which some characterize as appearing dynastic can be very sensitive to anything which seems even to hint at the suggestion and the Lee family in Singapore is the standard case study.  Between the rule of Lee Kuan Yew (1923–2015; prime minister of Singapore 1959-1990) and that of his son Lee Hsien Loong (b 1952; Prime Minister of Singapore since 2004) there was gap of over a dozen years (which must not be called an interregnum) and of some interest is whether a similar mechanism will be engineered to enable a third generation to assume office, the previous successor designate having been removed from the plan because of “some unsuitability”.  According to commentators, this means Mr Lee has decided to delay his retirement so a “long runway” is provided on which the next prime minister can emerge (Mr Lee presumably thinking of “runway” in the modern sense of the “catwalk” on which models strut their stuff rather than anything to do with aviation).

While Li Hongyi (b 1987; first-born child of Lee Hsien Loong), has disavowed any interest in a political career, there’s still plenty of time and if, in the fullness of time, “drafted” by the ruling PAP (the People’s Action Party which has been in power since independence in 1959), he may feel it his duty to be “be persuaded”.  Li Hongyi however may simply believe his lineage is too great a disadvantage to overcome.  Earlier, Lee Hsien Loong dismissed suggestions his stellar career (becoming at becoming at 32 the youngest brigadier-general in the history of the Singapore military and prime minister at 53) owed anything to family connections, claiming being the prime minister’s son actually hindered him because people were so anxious to avoid accusations of favoritism.  Interestingly, entertainment personality Kylie Jenner (b 1997) made much the point, claiming it was belonging to a famous family which saw her denied some modelling work.  The Lee family though do seem unusually sensitive to suggestions the scions might unduly benefit from the connection, the Financial Times in 2007 even having to apologize for having published not anything libellous (actually easily done in Singapore) but simply a list of Lee family members in high positions in the island nation.  The current derogatory slang is “nepo baby”, a clipping of nepotism baby, a term one is unlikely to read in the Singaporean press.

Kim I, II & III: The Kim Dynasty, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK, aka North Korea)

Kim I: Kim Il-sung (1912-1994; The Great Leader of DPRK (North Korea) 1948-1994 (left).  Like his descendants, The Dear Leader and The Supreme Leader, The Great Leader enjoyed food.  He’s pictured here at lunch with another foodie, comrade Stalin (1878-1953; Soviet leader 1924-1953) (right).

Kim Il-sung held an array of titles during his decades as the DPRK’s dictator, the proliferation not unusual in communist nations where the ruling party’s structures are maintained alongside the formal titles of state with which a nation maintains relations with the rest of the world.  In office for a notable forty five years he was designated premier (head of government) between 1948-1972 and president 1972-1994.  He was head of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) between 1949- 1994, and in that role was styled as chairman 1949-1966 and general secretary after 1966.  During his forty-five year rule, there were ten US presidents, six South Korean presidents, nine British prime ministers and ten Australian prime ministers.  He tenure in office also spanned the time of the USSR from its apotheosis under Comrade Stalin to its collapse in 1991. 

Being dead however proved no obstacle to The Great Leader extending his presidency, the collective office “Eternal leaders of Juche Korea” (Chuch'ejosŏnŭi yŏngwŏnhan suryŏng) created in 2016 by the insertion of an enabling line in the preamble to the constitution.  What this amendment did was formalise the position of The Great Leader and his late son Comrade Kim Jong Il (The Dear Leader) as the “eternal leaders” of the DPRK.  Juche is the term used to describe the DPRK’s national philosophy, a synthesis of The Great Leader’s interpretation of (1) Korean tradition and (2) Marxist-Leninist theory.

Funeral of The Great Leader, 1994.

It was an interesting move.  Technically, the office of president was constitutionally established only in 1972.  Prior to that, the role of head of state had been purely ceremonial and held by respected party functionaries, all power exercised by The Great Leader in his capacity as premier and general secretary of the WPK.  So tied to the legend of The Great Leader was the office of president that upon his death in 1994, the position was left vacant, The Dear Leader not granted the title.  That nuance of succession for a while absorbed the interest of the DPRK watchers but attempts to invest the move with any significance abated as DPRK business, though in the more straitened circumstances of the post Soviet world, continued as usual.

The constitution was again revised in 1998.  Being a godless communist state, no fine theological points stood in the way of declaring The Great Leader the DPRK’s "Eternal President", the latest addition to the preamble declaring:

Under the leadership of the Workers' Party of Korea, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Korean people will hold the great leader Comrade Kim Il-sung in high esteem as the eternal President of the Republic.

The constitution in its 2012, promulgated after the death of The Dear Leader, again referred to The Great Leader as "eternal President of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea" but, in 2016, The Dear Leader, having apparently been dead for a decent duration, another amendment to the preamble changed the administrative nomenclature of executive eternity to "eternal leaders of Juche Korea", the honor now jointly held by the leaders great & dear.  It was another first for the Kims.

Kim II: Kim Jong-il (1941–2011; The Dear Leader of DPRK (North Korea), 1994-2011).  Pictured here admiring a vegetable, The Dear Leader is accompanied by a general.  DPRK generals wear big hats and always carry a notebook in case the closest Kim says something.  They write it down.

As a construct, the DPRK is best thought of a hereditary theocracy.  Although opaque, its dynamics are now better understood but when The Great Leader died in 1994, neither within the country nor beyond was it widely understood how much of the power structure he controlled had passed to The Dear Leader.  Although the economic circumstances of 1994 were hardly propitious, there seems to have been little doubt about the formal succession, The Dear Leader having been anointed for more than a decade.  The DPRK’s media operation, while not in the conventional sense having a middle class to be made “quite prepared”, had the rest of the country to work on and The Dear Leader was gradually eased into photo opportunities with The Great Leader, eventually making even solo appearances, sometimes in the role of Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army to which he’s been appointed in 1991, despite having no military experience, although, given the minimal battlefield exposure of most of the generals, this might have been less of a problem than it appears.

Perhaps now aware of his own mortality, The Great Leader spent some of the time in the years before his death clearing the decks for the succession, purging the military and civilian ranks of any difficult types who might prove obstacles to The Dear Leader’s ascent.  Some apparently died but it may have been a coincidence; constitutionally the DPRK may be a theocracy but its military and political elite are gerontocracies.  The path was smoothed and, the military command settled, in 1992, The Great Leader announced The Dear Leader was in charge of all the DPRK’s internal affairs.  Curiously, shortly after that, the media began using the honorific “Dear Father” instead of “Dear Leader” but for whatever reason, all official communications soon reverted to the original title and there’s never been any explanation.

Despite all the dynastic help, the indications are it took The Dear Leader sometime fully to assert his authority.  Seriously weird it may appear but, the WPK is just another political party and they all have factions and, in the difficult post-Soviet environment of the 1994 succession, it seems there were genuine discussions within the party about how to deal with the economic problems the DPRK faced.  It frankly didn’t go well but while The Dear Leader may not have learned much economic theory, he proved adept at consolidating his power, adopting the Songun (military first) policy of North Korea, granting the military priority in resource allocation and political influence, not out of any concern about foreign invasion but to ensure the loyalty of what was, in effect, a giant police force to protect the Kim dynasty from a revolt of the people.  Secure in office, The Dear Leader did spasmodically attempt economic reforms but the results were not impressive.

Planning the dynasty: The Dear Leader shaking hands with Japanese-born singer Ko Yong-hui (1952-2004; aka Takada Hime) circa 1972.  She became his consort and would later give birth to Kim III (later The Supreme Leader).  Within the DPRK, her name must never be spoken and she's referred to only by honorific forms, the most commonly use of which is: “The Respected Mother who is the Most Faithful and Loyal 'Subject' to the Dear Leader Comrade Supreme Commander”.

By 1997, he was sufficiently entrenched to engineer his appointment to The Great Leader’s old post as General Secretary of the WPK and a year later, a constitutional amendment declared his role as chairman of the National Defence Commission was "the highest post of the state", presumably among those still alive because the same constitutional reform abolished the office of president and proclaimed The Great Leader to be the DPRK’s "Eternal President".  The year after The Dear Leader’s death in 2011, the constitution was amended to declare him Eternal General Secretary of the WPK and Eternal Chairman of the National Defence Commission.  In 2016, after a decent period of mourning, the new title "Eternal Leaders of Juche Korea" was created and granted to both the Great Leader & Dear Leader.

US actor Elizabeth Gillies (b 1993) appeared as Fallon Carrington on in the television drama Dynasty (2017–2022), a revival of the 1980s soap opera; it was shown in the US on the CW Television Network (episodes streamed internationally on Netflix the next day).  She appeared (far left) in Ariana Grande's (b 1993) music video Thank U, Next (2019), taking the part of Lindsay Lohan in the segment which was a homage to Mean Girls (2004).  While not technically a doppelganger, the degree of resemblance was sufficient for the concept to work.

The reputation of the DPRK as a hermit state cloaked in secrecy is undeserved because there is an official biography of The Dear Leader and from his birth, he was amazing.  He was born inside a log cabin beneath Korea’s most sacred mountain and in the moment of delivery, a shooting star brought forth a spontaneous change from winter to summer and there appeared in the sky, a double rainbow.  The Dear Leader was not subject to bowel movements, never needing to defecate or urinate although it’s not known if this is a genetic characteristic of the dynasty and therefore enjoyed also by The Supreme Leader.  He had a most discriminating palette so The Dear Leader employed staff to inspect every grain of rice by hand to ensure each piece was of uniform length, plumpness, and color, The Dear Leader eating only perfectly-sized rice.  Although he only ever played one round of golf and that on the country’s notoriously difficult 7,700 yard (7040 m) course at Pyongyang, he took only 34 strokes to complete the 18 holes, a round which included five holes-in-ones.  Experienced golfers have cast doubt on the round of 34 (not commenting on the holes-in-one) but the diet of individually inspected & polished grains of rice was thought "at least plausible".  

Funeral of The Dear Leader, 2011.

The car is a 1975 or 1976 Lincoln Continental, built by Moloney Standard Coach Builders on an extended wheelbase.  Lincoln experts say it's a different car to the similar model used in The Great Leader's funeral, the dynasty said to own several and it's believed they were obtained "through sources in Japan".  Uniquely, the Kin dynasty is the only only family said also to own a brace of Mercedes-Benz 600s (M100; 1963-1981) long-roof Landaulets, only twelve of which were built.  Fittingly, the long-roof variants are known casually as the "presidentials" but the factory never officially used the designation.  

The Kims certainly build personality cults but it’s not only the North Koreans who create retrospective honours to acknowledge the uniqueness of a special individual.  George Washington (1732-1799) will forever be the first President of the United States (POTUS) so that’s fine but he retired from the army as a lieutenant general and later appointments of some to more senior ranks bothered some in the military, concerned his primacy in the hierarchy wasn’t adequately honoured.  The later appointments had been (1) Ulysses S Grant (1822–1885) created General of the Army in 1866, (2) John Pershing (1860–1948) appointed General of the Armies in 1919 and (3) nine of the World War II (1939-1945) generals and admirals who were appointed to the newly formalised five star rank as Generals of the Army and Fleet Admirals respectively.  Where Washington stood in this potpourri of stars and titles wasn’t clear until 1978 when, after years of discussions of the difficulties inherent in solving the problem, in a surprisingly simple act of internal Army administration, Washington posthumously was promoted to General of the Armies of the United States, making him eternally the US military’s most senior officer.

Kim III: Kim Jong-un (b circa 1982; The Supreme Leader (originally The Great Successor) of DPRK (North Korea) since 2011).  The Supreme Leader is pictured here with South Korean foreign minister, Chung Eui-yong (b 1946).

Inheriting the family business at a much younger age than The Dear Leader, The Supreme Leader, didn’t benefit (or suffer) from the long public gestation period his father was provided by The Great Leader.  It was in 2009, about two years before The Dear Leader’s death that the media began reporting the youngest son, was to be the DPRK’s next leader although at that stage, he was referred to as The Brilliant Comrade, the honorific The Great Successor not adopted until after The Dear Leader’s death and it was soon replaced by The Supreme Leader.  For whatever reason, and the speculation and conspiracy theories are many, Kim III more quickly assumed his panoply of offices and titles than his immediate ancestor.  

Announced on state television as The Great Successor, The Supreme Leader was appointed General Secretary of the WPK, Chairman of the Central Military Commission, and President of the State Affairs Commission, followed soon afterwards by a promotion to the army’s highest military rank, Marshal of the Korean People's Army, adding to his position as Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces (exactly the same constitutional arrangement adopted by Hitler as commander-in-chief of both OKH (Oberkommando des Heeres (High Command of the Army)) and OKW (Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (High Command of the Armed Forces)).  Great minds do think alike.  Confusingly, having already morphed from The Brilliant Comrade to The Great Successor to The Supreme Leader, references also appeared calling him The Dear Respected Leader but thankfully the proliferation seems now to have stopped.  In office, he has pursued 병진 (byungjin (literally "parallel development")), a refinement of The Great Leader’s policy simultaneously to develop both the economy and the military, his particular emphasis in the latter a focus on nuclear weapons and inter-continental delivery systems.  It may be an attempt to avoid the problems inherent in the “Waffen und Butter” (guns and butter) programme pursued by the Nazi regime (despite the international perception) as late as the first three years of World War II (1939-1945).

Although Kim III is no longer referred to as The Great Successor, there have been great successes.  Despite Western propaganda, there are elections in the DPRK and when The Supreme Leader sought a seat in the Supreme People's Assembly, there was a record turnout of voters and he received 100% of the votes cast.  Although it’s hard to determine the veracity of many of the reports, it’s suggested he’s an innovator in matters of military discipline, new methods used by firing squads said to include flame throwers, and anti-aircraft cannons, both said to make quite a mess although it's difficult to know how high is the body count, some reported executed later turning up alive and well.  Worth a mention though is the assassination in 2017 of his exiled half-brother Kim Jong-nam (1971-2017), killed with the nerve agent VX while walking through Kuala Lumpur International Airport, a novel twist on the extra-judicial execution being the use of two aspiring starlets to deliver the VX; they believed they were being filmed as part of a reality TV show. Most celebrated has been the nuclear programme and the increasingly bigger and longer-range missiles paraded from time to time.  Underground nuclear tests being hard to monitor, it remains unclear whether the devices tested are the long de rigueur plutonium weapons or, for the first time since the one-off A-Bomb used in Hiroshima in 1945, made using uranium.  Most recently, state media has announced the complete success in avoiding COVID-19 with no cases reported in the republic so, on any basis of calculation, The Supreme Leader has supervised the most successful COVID-19 strategy on Earth.

The Supreme Leader has also drawn the interest of the pro ana community because of his remarkable weight loss.  Whether his motivation was (1) concerns about his health, being a bit chubby, (2) a wish to look more sexy and attractive to younger women or (3) display some solidarity with his subjects, many of whom were suffering food shortages, his weight-loss regime has been a success, experts estimating, on the basis of photographic evidence, that he has probably shed up to 25-30 kg (65-80 lb).  This is good but has created a problem for the small number of people in the entertainment business who work as as Kim Jong-il impersonators, some of who have sought guidance from the pro ana community.  For security reasons, The Supreme Leader is known also to employ body doubles and it's not known if they're currently being starved or have already been shot and replaced with thinner models.  

After the weight loss he seems in such rude good health that, still not forty, there’s no reason he may not rule perhaps even longer than his grandfather’s forty-five years.  Ever since the demise of the USSR in 1991, analysts have been predicting the imminent demise of the communist regimes in both Pyongyang and Havana but they seem to muddle through, the DPRK of late enjoying new sources of foreign exchange, branching out from industrial-scale drug production and the smuggling of oil and minerals to the new field of cybercrime; even in the niche market of fake news they're said to run a small operation.

Axiomatic

Axiomatic (pronounced ak-see-uh-mat-ik)

(1) Of or pertaining to the nature of an axiom.

(2) That which is self-evident or unquestionable; the obvious.

(3) Containing maxims; aphoristic.

(4) In formal logic (or any logical system), as axiomatic system, a set of axioms from which theorems can be derived by the application of by transformation rules.

(5) In mathematics, relating to or containing axioms (now less common).

1797: From the Ancient Greek ἀξιωματικός (axiōmatikós), from ἀξίωμα ((axíōma), genitive axiomatos) (a self-evident principle), the construct being axiōmat (stem of axíōma) + the suffix ikos (and the related ic).  The now less common form axiomatical was known as early as the 1580s.  The ikos suffix was from κός (kós) with an added i, from i-stems such as φυσι-κός (phusi-kós) (natural), through the same process by which ῑ́της (ī́tēs) developed from της (tēs), occurring in some original case and later used freely.  It was cognate with the Latin icus and the Proto-Germanic igaz, from which came Old English iġ (which in Modern English ultimately was resolved as y), the Old High German ig and the Gothic eigs.  The ic suffix forms adjectives from other parts of speech.  It occurred originally in Greek and Latin loanwords (metallic; poetic; archaic; public et al) and, on this model, was used as an adjective-forming suffix with the particular sense of “having some characteristics of”, as opposed to the simple attributive use of the base noun (balletic; sophomoric et al), “in the style of” (Byronic; Miltonic et al), or “pertaining to a family of peoples or languages” (Finnic; Semitic; Turkic).  The -ic suffix was from the Middle English -ik, from the Old French -ique, from the Latin -icus, from the primitive Indo-European -kos & -ḱos, formed with the i-stem suffix -i- and the adjectival suffix -kos & -ḱos.  The form existed also in the Ancient Greek as -ικός (-ikós), in Sanskrit as -इक (-ika) and the Old Church Slavonic as -ъкъ (-ŭkŭ); A doublet of -y.  In European languages, adding -kos to noun stems carried the meaning "characteristic of, like, typical, pertaining to" while on adjectival stems it acted emphatically; in English it's always been used to form adjectives from nouns with the meaning “of or pertaining to”.  A precise technical use exists in physical chemistry where it's used to denote certain chemical compounds in which a specified chemical element has a higher oxidation number than in the equivalent compound whose name ends in the suffix -ous; (eg sulphuric acid (H₂SO₄) has more oxygen atoms per molecule than sulphurous acid (H₂SO₃).  Axiomatic & axiomatical are adjectives, axiomatize & axiomatize are verbs and axiomatically is an adverb.  Clumsy forms (sometimes hyphenated) like nonaxiomatic & unaxiomatic are created as required.

In mathematics (notably in including geometry, algebra, and set theory), an axiomatic system (“deductive system” or “formal system” seem to be the more fashionable terms) is a set of axioms or postulates, which, coupled with rules of inference, can be used to derive theorems or statements from those axioms.  In mathematics, there are collections of equations which can be used to document the processes but in any form of applied logic these systems provide a rigorous foundation for reasoning and proof, using what can be reduced to a mathematical process.  In axiomatic systems, axioms are assumed to be true without proof and the rules of inference are used to derive new statements from the axioms; theorems derived from the axioms are then considered to be true, based on the validity of the axioms and the rules of inference.

Axiomatic: If crooked Hillary Clinton is using a cell phone, she will be deleting something.

In the discipline of philosophy, even those parts which are not inherently mathematical (such as formal logic), the axiomatic system works in a similar way in that a statement, proposition, or principle that is considered self-evident or universally accepted without needing to be proven.  Axioms are thus often used as the starting point for logical reasoning or the foundation upon which a system of thought or theory is built, assumed to be true and are not subject to further analysis or questioning within the context of the system they are part of.  There are a number of highly technical rules which define whether a axiomatic system can be described as “consistent” but that means that within its own terms it contains nothing contradictory.  In other words, from the elements of any axiomatic system, it’s not possible to be either proven or disproven. This differs from one labeled “independent” in that that status is defined by them not being proven or disproven from other axioms in the system.  An axiomatic system is labeled “complete” if for every statement, either itself or its negation is derivable from the system's axioms (implicit in which is that every statement is capable of being proven true or false).

Not axiomatic: The real Lindsay Lohan and Take Two Interactive’s alleged doppelganger in Grand Theft Auto V (GTA5).

Lawyers too like the word “axiomatic”, possibly because concepts like “foreseeability” and “causation” are such an essential part of their training.  The use though exists within different parameters to that of mathematics.  In Lindsay Lohan vs Take Two Interactive Software Inc et al (APL-2017—00027 and APL-2017-00028 (November 2017)), the New York Court of Appeals held that a certain section of an act “categorically excludes works of fiction, a protected category of expression beyond the narrow scope of the statutory phrases advertising and trade”, noting the US Supreme Court (USSC) had “reversed course to recognize First Amendment protections for fiction”.  The Court of Appeal explained that after the USSC “limited Section 51 claims for fictionalization” to factual works that place persons in a false light, subsequent case law both isolated the commercial interest protected by the right of publicity and recognized “the right of publicity does not attach” where “it is evident to the public that the events so depicted are fictitious.”  The judgment noted with approval the decision of the California Supreme Court which “famously” recognized fiction writers may “more persuasively be able to more accurately express themselves by weaving into the tale persons or events familiar to their readers”, adding “correctly”, that “the choice is theirs”.  “This categorical protection is now axiomatic”.  Once can see what the judges meant and of course they were correct but what can be held to be “axiomatic” in law can differ from the same thing in mathematics because in the world of numbers, there is no superior court able to rule 2+2=5.  Their position is more akin to the philosophers who for centuries until 1697 could regard as inviolate the axiom to “all swans are white and all non-white birds are not swans”.