Several world leader travel abroad with their private toilets. This week, North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un traveled to China this week with his own private toilet, reportedly to prevent any possibility of his DNA or health details being leaked. According to Japanese and South Korean intelligence, the lavatory was part of his green armored train that carried him to Beijing on Tuesday for the country’s largest-ever military parade, commemorating the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.
But Why Do World Leaders Carry Private Toilets?
South Korean officials say the extraordinary precaution is due to the regime’s obsession with secrecy.
“The physical condition of the supreme leader has a major impact on the North Korean regime,” a South Korean intelligence official familiar with the matter told Nikkei Asia.
“North Korea makes a particular effort to seal off anything related to that, such as hair and excrement.”
The extent of Pyongyang’s caution was also on display during Kim’s recent meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Kremlin reporter Alexander Yunashev released footage showing Kim’s aides meticulously cleaning the room after the two leaders’ two-and-a-half-hour conversation.
Yunashev noted that Kim’s staff “took away the glass from which he drank, wiped the upholstery of the chair and those parts of the furniture that the Korean leader touched.”
Vladimir Putin Makes Sure His Excrement Never Falls Into Wrong Hands
Kim is not the only leader to take extreme measures to safeguard personal waste. Reports suggest that Russian President Vladimir Putin also ensures his excrement never falls into the wrong hands.
According to French news magazine Paris Match, Putin relies on agents from the Federal Protection Service to collect his waste during foreign trips and return it to Russia for discreet disposal.
The reasoning, experts say, lies in concerns that foreign intelligence could glean insights into Putin’s health. Some Russian insiders believe he may be battling cancer, and waste analysis could reveal evidence of treatments.
“If he was on chemotherapy then it may show up,” explained Ben de Lacy Costello, associate professor of biosensing and diagnostics at the University of the West of England, Bristol.
“Depending on what kind of drug it was and how it was metabolized by the liver and the excretion pathway.”
History of “Excrement Espionage”
The practice of monitoring or protecting leaders’ waste is not new. Soviet leader Joseph Stalin is said to have obtained stool samples from Chinese Chairman Mao Zedong during Mao’s 10-day visit to Moscow in 1949. At the time, the Soviets reportedly built special toilets with retrieval boxes that sent samples to laboratories for analysis.
Similar tactics were allegedly used decades later. In 1999, Israel’s Mossad agents, working with Jordanian intelligence, reportedly intercepted the waste of Syrian President Hafez al-Assad during his stay in Amman for the funeral of Jordan’s King Hussein. Assad, who was suffering from diabetes and cancer, provided crucial intelligence through the samples.
The CIA is also believed to have collected the waste of former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni during visits to Washington.
Even US presidents have taken steps to guard against such risks. In 2006, President George W. Bush reportedly traveled with his own toilet to Vienna, Austria, ensuring that the contents of his waste remained classified.
Zubair Amin is a Senior Journalist at NewsX with over seven years of experience in reporting and editorial work. He has written for leading national and international publications, including Foreign Policy Magazine, Al Jazeera, The Economic Times, The Indian Express, The Wire, Article 14, Mongabay, News9, among others. His primary focus is on international affairs, with a strong interest in US politics and policy. He also writes on West Asia, Indian polity, and constitutional issues. Zubair tweets at zubaiyr.amin
