The Aardvark Speaks: Korean trivia

December 02, 2003

Korean trivia

When I met Andy and Zoe recently, both were in a kind of strange mood that had apparently been caused by having to deal with a delegation of North Koreans for a prolonged period of time. To entertain them, I promised to post a North Korea quiz that I had found in one of the summer supplements of Libération. Here it is:

What is the name that propaganda usually calls the "Great Leader" Kim Il-sung?
(a) The Sun. (b) The Brain. (c) The Organs.
How does propaganda refer to the "Dear Leader" Kim Jong-il?
(a) The Sun of the 21st Century. (b) The Revolutionary Spirit. (c) The Purple Thought.
According to propaganda, what event took place during the birth of Kim Jong-il?
(a) A rainbow appeared. (b) A shooting star moved across the sky. (c) Three wise men came to Wonsan.
What is Kim Jong-il's favourite movie?
(a) Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. (b) Psycho. (c) Friday the 13th.
And his favourite actress?
(a) Sophia Loren. (b) Elizabeth Taylor. (c) His wife.
Kim Il-sung was born on the same day as...
(a) the shipwreck of the Titanic. (b) Jacques Chirac. (c) Peter Sellers.
Which of the following did Kim Jong-il have kidnapped and/or arrested?
(a) Passers-by on a Japanese beach. (b) A South Korean film director. (c) A member of the French Communist Party.
How many statues of Kim Il-sung are there in North Korea?
(a) 350. (b) 3,500. (c) 35,000.
In 2002, Kim Jong-il's son Kim Jong-nam was arrested by Japanese police because he was using a counterfeit Japanese passport. What did he want to do with it?
(a) Visit Disneyland Tokyo. (b) Buy computers in the Akihabara district. (c) Visit his mistress in Kyoto.
Who (jokingly) called Philippe Séguin the "Kim Il-jong of the Vosges"?
(a) Xavière Tiberi. (b) Gérard Depardieu. (c) Jean Tiberi.
(See comments below for an explanation of who these people are.)
The presents given to Kim Il-sung by foreign dignitaries are stored in a giant wooden house in the Korean mountains. How many of them are there?
(a) 344. (b) 34,444. (c) 211,688.
In 1987, who offered Kim Il-sung a machine gun and a rifle with a bayonet for his birthday?
(a) Stalin. (b) Polish president Wojciech Yaruzelski. (c) Mao Tse Tung.
The North Korean calendar counts the years starting with 1911. Why?
(a) To pay homage to the Chinese revolution of Sun Yat-sen. (b) It is the birthyear of Kim Il-sung's brother. (c) It is the year in which Kim Il-sung was fathered.
"Golden rice field", "Red star", "Triumphant return", "Foundation of the state". These are...
(a) names of metro stations in Pyongyang. (b) names of North Korean army regiments. (c) brand names of North Korean-produced lorries.
Which French personality allowed the construction (which never took place) of a rocket-shaped 3000-bedroom hotel in Pyongyang?
(a) President François Mitterand. (b) The financier Roger-Patrice Pelat. (c) Communist Party leader Georges Marchais.
What is the official name of North Korea's state ideology?
(a) Kimism. (b) Koryoism. (c) The high seat.
The Korean language is most closely related to...
(a) Japanese. (b) Chinese. (c) Turkish.

Quiz by Philippe Grangereau

Feel free to post your ~~answers~~ guesses in the comments. I will publish the correct answers in a few days.

Posted by Horst on December 2, 2003 11:57 PM to news of the world | Tell-a-friend

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Comments

Ingmar Greil said on December 3, 2003 11:18 AM:

Ok, so I dont' try to research this on the web... I mean, some of the answers should be out there, but what the heck :) It does show, at any rate, that this quiz has been taken from a french newspaper... Some questions smack strongly of French interior politics (Who are these Tiberis, anyway?)

My guesses: 1a 2a 3a 4c 5c 6b 7b 8b 9a 10c 11a 12b 13c 14c 15b 16a 17a

Horst said on December 3, 2003 11:53 AM:

Jean Tiberi was the former mayor of Paris. Before the 2001 communal elections, his party wanted to replace him with Séguin because of his involvement in a number of scandals. A bitter conflict ensued between them. Séguin became the official candidate, Tiberi ran as an independent candidate. They were defeated by Bertrand Delanoë.

Xavière Tiberi is Tiberi's wife, and was herself implicated in an electoral fraud scandal.

Gérard Depardieu is a famous French actor.

zed said on December 5, 2003 08:46 AM:

here's a feeble attempt :

1c, 2b, 3b, 4a, 5a, 6c, 7b, 8c, 9a, 10b, 11b, 12c, 13c, 14a, 15c, 16c, 17c.

oh dear ....

Haldur Gislufsson said on December 7, 2003 09:33 AM:

Here are the correct answers:

1a. 2a. 3a and b. 4c. 5b. 6a. 7a, b and c (the PCF member was Jacques Sédillot, who died after seven years in a prison camp). 8c. 9a. 10c. 11c. 12b (Stalin offered him an armoured car, Mao a Mah Jong game). 13c. 14a. 15b (under the condition that a French company would build it). 16c (meaning "self-sufficiency"). 17c (it's an Altaic language).

zed said on December 7, 2003 02:14 PM:

that means i got 6 5/6 (the 5/6 was worked out for me by one of my daughters).

not impressive, is it ?

Horst said on December 7, 2003 02:44 PM:

Considering that I told you the answers to questions 8 and 17 at our meeting, no, it isn't. ;-)

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