North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un has ordered the reinstatement of the "pleasure squad," a group of female companions employed exclusively for the ruler's entertainment, The Telegraph has learned.
The squad, or "pleasure troupe," dates back to Kim's late father- and his father before that- and was available at the leader's beck and call to dance and sing or perform any task needed.
But when Kim's father Kim Jong-il died in late 2011, the young leader dismissed the women as a way to ensure his new regime could be trusted, according to South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo.
Now, however, it seems Kim Jong-un is ready to carry on the tradition with a "new entertainment group who only have loyalty to him," professor Toshimitsu Shigemura, of Waseda University in Tokyo, told The Telegraph.
"This has been going on under three generations of the Kim family ruling North Korea and it has become a tradition that is also a demonstration of the leader's power over the people and his sexual power," Shigemura, also an expert on North Korea, told the newspaper.
The idea for the "pleasure squad" came from Kim II-sung, North Korea's founder and the current leader's grandfather. Government officials would roam the country in search of the most attractive young women- sometimes as young as 13 or 14- to bring back in service of the leader. Parents often did not have a say in the matter, according to The Telegraph.
Back at the leader's residence, the women would either work as maids or for the leader himself if they were pretty enough.
Kim's decision coincides with the close of North Korea's official three-year period of morning after his father's death, the professor said. When his father's squad was dismissed the women were given a severance of $4,000 as well as home appliances, Chosun Ilbo reported. Those who were employed as maids, however, were given less money.
Being part of the leader's entourage was not a lifetime gig. Many who so-called retired from the group, still in their 20s, went on to become the wives of military officials.
