Following in the footsteps of his predecessors, Kim Jong Un reportedly passed a law to ban citizens from being named after him.
Details of the administrative order were revealed by a North Korean defector to KBS TV, a local television network in South Korea.
According to defector Park Jin-hee, who now works for the television station, the law was apparently enacted in 2011. This was during the time when former North Korean leader Kim Jong Il passed away and was replaced by his son, Kim Jong Un.
Based on the document released by Park, government organizations are required to compile the names of residents from various sectors. Those named Kim Jong-un will be asked to choose a different name.
"All party organs and public security authorities should make a list of residents named Kim Jong-un, and train them to voluntarily change their names," the directive read. "Authorities should make sure there is no one making unnecessary complaints or spreading gossip regarding this project."
As part of the law, all official identification cards and documents of those who share the name with Kim Jong-un will be revised. In addition, the birth certificates of newborns who have the same name will be automatically rejected by North Korean authorities, The Guardian reported.
Although the administrative directive is yet to be verified, officials from South Korea's unification department noted that such rule previously existed in the North during the time of Kim Jong-un's predecessors.
A government official from South Korea noted that when Kim Jong Il and his father Kim Il Sung were in power, citizens were also not allowed to have the same names. Park also mentioned the same reference to KBS TV.
"There is no one in the North names Km Il Sung and Kimg Jong Il, and there is no doubt the same rule applies for Jong-un," she told the network.
