Who among us hasn't looked at the hereditary ruler of a draconian regime and wondered,
"Just what does this guy haul in after taxes?"
Which of us hasn't felt the desire to pull our payroll stubs for the last six months,
just so we could compare them to the salary of the world's cruelest despot?
Who hasn't wondered, gazing up at the stars, just how much Kim Jong Un is worth?
Well, if you've ever wanted to live like nuclear royalty, get ready to turn green with envy.
It shouldn't come as a shock to find out that Kim Jong Un is doing better financially than
anyone else in North Korea.
But how many zeroes are really at the end of his paycheck?
Does his agent take a cut?
Did he get anything off the back end of The Interview, or did he just hold onto the merchandising
rights and make a killing on action figures?
Unfortunately, details on the reclusive Supreme Leader's bank account are pretty sparse, but
according to the International Business Times, a joint investigation by the U.S. and South
Korea in 2013 placed Kim's assets at a ballpark $5 billion.
That's almost twice as much as some other world leaders, or roughly what the average
North Korean can expect to make over around five and a half million years.
And if you're wondering what the 35-year-old Kim spends that cash on, fear not.
According to MSN, the young dictator spends around $30 million a year on imported liquor,
and also owns his own bulletproof train, as well as a $1.7 million armored Mercedes Benz
S600.
Oh, and here's a fun fact: Kim also owns his own a private jet, valued at an estimated
$1.5 million, which he calls "Air Force Un."
Wanna know an even more fun fact?
According to the Global Hunger Index, nearly half of all North Koreans suffer from hunger.
Comparatively, the entire estimated GDP of the reclusive nation sat at about $17.3 billion
in 2017.
That puts it about on par financially with Mali, whose president, Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta,
has a current estimated personal net worth of somewhere between one and five million
dollars, but who, in fairness, very rarely hangs out with Dennis Rodman.
"I have no clue.
I have no clue."
"You do have a clue!"
But what does life look like for your average citizen in a country where nearly a third
of the nation's monetary worth gets funneled into the Supreme Leader's checking account?
Well, less than ideal.
In North Korea, basic human necessities are at a premium, and food aid from other countries
has become crucial to survival for many.
Life choices that westerners take for granted exist under direct government control, and
permission from the higher ups is required if a person even wants to live in the capital
city of Pyongyang.
Visitors from the outside have noted a distinct lack of upper-end technology like smartphones
and digital cameras, too.
They've also noticed an absence of other staples of western life, like restaurants and functioning
department stores.
Meanwhile, additions to the Kim family's legacy of monumentalism eat up a respectable fraction
of the North Korean budget.
In 2012, the Telegraph reported that the addition of a memorial Kim Jong-il statue at the Mansu
Hill Grand Monument racked up a $10 million cost for the country, and that North Korean
workers located overseas were politely informed that they'd be required to contribute a cool
$150 each towards its cost.
Meanwhile, military costs and an ever-expanding nuclear weapons program may keep the country
on the international stage, but they were estimated by the Council on Foreign Relations
to run at an operation cost of over $3 billion per year.
"You were gonna blow everybody up just to show what a big guy you are?
No friend would blow up another friend's country."
And if you're curious as to how North Korea manages to pull in that kind of cheddar while
also experiencing a marked shortage of actual cheddar, then you and the United Nations are
in the same boat.
According to a UN Security Council report, there's a pretty solid chance that a good
chunk of it is stolen in cyber attacks on foreign nations.
And while that may not fly from an ethical perspective, it really solidifies the whole
"Bond villain" aesthetic that Kim seems to be rocking.
As if the pantsuits didn't do that already.
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