[CWuestefeld]

I suspect that it's not that they really believe Kim has never pooped, but that doesn't mean that North Koreans don't tell each other these stories. I think it might be closer to "Chuck Norris Facts" that we tell ourselves. Obviously nobody believes any of those things about Chuck Norris, but we continue to do so, and in so doing confer to Norris some degree of reverence.

Or maybe even more mundanely, it's like Santa Claus. Adults don't believe that he lives at the north pole with flying reindeer. But we continue to teach children that he does - not because it's literally true, but because we seem to feel that having children believe this somehow makes our culture better.

I imagine that similarly, Kim is getting this reverence - but since it's channeled into a framework of him being their supreme leader, it reinforces his hold on the nation.

[fndex]

That is a much better analysis. I believe they do have some weird cult of personality going on, but that is very different from being "indoctrinated".