If you happen to be named Kim Jong Un and are currently residing in North Korea, then you have unfortunately been ordered by the government to change your name immediately.
North Korea will not be allowing any individual to share the name of leader Kim Jong Un anymore, South Korea's state-run KBS television reported on Wednesday. Although the order was contained in a 2011 directive, it has only been made public now, Yonhap reported.
The report could not immediately be confirmed by South Korea's Unification Ministry, which handles ties with the North, but it said the decree was plausible, Reuters reported.
Apart from people, who share the name, changing it and amending their birth certificates, no newborn will now be allowed to be given the name as well, KBS reported, citing an official North Korean directive.
"Although the directive is quoted as saying that the changes should be done voluntarily, correspondents say few in North Korea would be likely to disobey," according to BBC News.
Similar bans on the use of the names of two former leaders, Kim's father, Kim Jong Il, and grandfather, Kim Il Sung, have been imposed by the country in the past as part of propaganda drives to build cults of personality and mystical reverence around them.
Kim Jong Il, the father of the current leader, issued the order in 2011, when his son was heir apparent, KBS said. The elder Kim died in December that year and his son took power.
"The ban is highly possible since North Korea had the same policy in the era of Kim Jong Il and Kim Il Sung," a ministry official said.
Currently, it is not known how many people are named Kim Jong Un in North Korea, but Kim is a very common family name and Jong Un are common given names.
Meanwhile, male university students in North Korea were bizarrely ordered in March to get the same haircut as leader Kim Jong Un, called the "dear leader haircut," where the head's bottom half is shaved clean while layers of hair are left on top.
