Doctor: “Kim Il Sung Was Incredibly Healthy”

Dr. Berdishev, who visited North Korea at the request of North Korean leader Kim Il Sung in 1982, recalled, “Kim established a longevity center in Pyongyang for himself and intensively took care of his health. He was incredibly healthy.” The entire staff at the center were military generals, so the director of the center always accompanied him.

Kim complained to Dr. Berdishev that he had decreased sexual vigor. A diagnosis revealed that a kind of enzyme had invaded his nervous system, blocking the transmission of chemical signals between the nerve cells of his sexual organs. To extract the medicinal herbs known to have the ingredients to curb the generation of these enzymes, all boys from the Communist Youth League in North Korea were recruited for the search.

The drug produced from the medicinal herbs was effective, so Kim, very satisfied, granted Dr. Berdishev the Honorary Award for the People, saying, “I can now live a sex life like before.”

Dr. Berdishev recommended that Kim drink pure water pumped 200 meters from the icecaps in Antarctica to maintain his health. This was completely pure water with no heavy hydrogen and tritium which are known to facilitate aging, which the doctor himself drank. It was sent to Pyongyang by plane via Moscow from Antarctica every month.

The doctor also recalled, “The former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping used to receive health treatment from about 20 doctors, drank 50 grams of refined rice wine that had been warmed, and had a milk bath once a week. Hence, he had a very good complexion for a 75-year-old man.

Dr. Berdishev has been doing research on anti-aging since 1977. He is known as “Doctor Pyramid” because of this discovery of the extraordinary fact that the water inside miniature pyramid buildings of ancient Egypt does not turn to ice even under 15 degrees Celsius below zero.

He himself lives in a miniature pyramid house near Kiev, doing research on the correlation between pyramids and longevity.

Ki-Hyun Kim kimkihy@donga.com