| Kippumjo | |
|---|---|
| Chosŏn'gŭl | 기쁨조 |
| Hancha | 기쁨組 |
| McCune–Reischauer | Kippŭmjo |
| Revised Romanization | Gippeumjo |
The Gippeumjo (translated variously as Pleasure Group, Pleasure Groups, Pleasure Squad, Pleasure Brigade, Joy Brigade, or Joy Division) is a collection of groups of approximately 2,000 women and girls between the ages of 13 and 40 (although most are believed to be between 18 and 25), which are maintained by the head of state of North Korea for the purpose of providing pleasure and entertainment for high-ranking Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) officials and their families, as well as occasionally also distinguished guests.
Little is known outside North Korea about the Gippeumjo, but information has gradually emerged through the testimony of North Koreans who have defected.
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The Gippeumjo was established in 1978, during the administration of Kim Il-sung, with the first group being recruited by Lee Dong Ho, the First Vice Director of the Department of United Front of the WPK, for the purpose of entertaining Kim at the Munsu Chodaeso (문수 초대소; Munsu Guesthouse). The recruiting and training of Gippeumjo are currently administered by the Fifth Department of Staff of the Organic Direction of the Party and continued to be maintained by his son, Kim Jong-il, until his own death in 2011.[1]
Each pleasure group is composed of three teams:
Girls from throughout the country are recruited to be Gippeumjo members according to government criteria (one of which is that they must be virgins). After being selected, they undergo a rigorous training period, with some Haengbokjo members being sent overseas for massage training.[1] Gippeumjo members typically leave at age 22 or 25, at which time they are often married to other members of North Korea's elite, and their former membership in the Gippeumjo is kept secret.[1][3]
The first two syllables of the name, gippeum, is a native Korean word meaning joy or happiness. The suffix jo (組) is a Sino-Korean word which describes a group of people. Kim Il-sung is believed to have established this corps of women in the belief that having sexual relations with young women would have the effect of enhancing his life force, or gi (hangul: 기; hanja: 氣; no relation to the gi in gippeum).[3]