Kim Jong Un 'Boom' Condoms Sold For $3 Online
KEY POINTS
- The "Kim Jong Boom Condoms" are being sold online for about $3 each
- The white foil wrapper of the condom features a caricature of the "Supreme Leader"
- Other Kim-based merchandise offered online include mugs, calendars and sex toys
People can currently avail of merchandise inspired by 38-year-old North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, such as thongs, condoms and sex toys, among many other things.
American retailer CafePress's offering of Kim-based products included t-shirts and coffee mugs, but the online store also offered other goods such as thongs — one of which featured North Korea's leader smiling on the underwear's front side.
The panties, which are currently on sale for a little less than $12, will make wearers "feel a little more naughty than nice in the most discreet, one-of-a-kind-way" and give them the chance to "enjoy minimal coverage and maximum comfort for a fun and flirty feel," the product's description read.
Meanwhile, novelty condom store sayitwithacondom.com offers the "Kim Jong Boom Condom" for about $3 apiece.
Each condom supposedly has an artwork of the "Supreme Leader" printed directly onto a white foil wrapper.
"Studies show condoms are 98% effective at preventing pregnancy when used properly. Studies also show North Korea is 98% ineffective at launching missiles," the item's description stated.
Arts and craft store Etsy also has a range of Kim-based products, including a white vibrator with 10 different speed settings and a 2022 calendar featuring Kim and former U.S. President Donald Trump in its Christmas-themed December page, according to The Sun.
The seemingly humorous merchandise of Kim contrasts the North Korean leader's real-world identity of being a dictator who has allegedly committed all but one of the 11 recognized crimes against humanity.
The crimes were murder, extermination, enslavement, forcible transfer, imprisonment, torture, sexual violence, persecution, enforced disappearances and other inhumane acts, according to a report by the International Bar Association's War Crimes Committee.
North Korea is "one of the most repressive countries in the world," the Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in its 2022 report on the country, which is sometimes called the "hermit kingdom" due to its isolationist stance.
Kim's government "does not tolerate pluralism, bans independent media, civil society organizations, and trade unions, and systematically denies all basic liberties, including freedom of expression, public assembly, association, and religion," according to the HRW.
Additionally, authorities in the country "routinely send perceived opponents of the government to secretive political prison camps (kwanliso) in remote regions where they face torture by guards, starvation rations, and forced labor."
"The government systematically extracts forced, unpaid labor from its citizens to build infrastructure and conduct other government-ordered campaigns and public work projects. The government fails to protect the rights of numerous at-risk groups, including women, children, and people with disabilities," the HRW said in its most recent report.
Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kim acknowledged his country's "dire" economic and food situation.
He also called for self-reliance and "unspecified" tightened measures despite the country having reported zero positive cases of the virus — all while the government "continued to prioritize weapons development, conducting missile tests."
North Korea has not reported any confirmed coronavirus cases in the country as of early February.