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I heard this story, where they celebrated the birthday of the now defunct North Korean dictator Kim Il-sung in the 1970s and as a birthday present they created through some very complex artillery maneuvers an artificial total solar eclipse over Pyongyang. At that very moment, the dictator stepped out of his palace, in front of the crowd in a suit covered with reflecting material and had giant reflectors directed at him, so he practically 'outshone' the sun... While this seems plausible in view of the megalomania and extreme personality cult we all know about, I still wonder whether this actually happened? Is it technically feasible at all?

Count Zero
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    can you please provide a source of that story? – Baarn Jan 07 '12 at 15:54
  • I can not find any similar claim on google... – Sklivvz Jan 07 '12 at 15:59
  • It was in an old Romanian newspaper (that has gone out of print years ago), so no online source, sorry. :( – Count Zero Jan 07 '12 at 16:29
  • Notability? Doesn't anyone believe the story is true? (Also, I am uncomfortable with describing a whole country as a cult - I can't think of a definition that would accept that but that wouldn't take in most Western countries too.) – Oddthinking Jan 07 '12 at 17:59
  • @Oddthinking: As for notability: if you can't google it, it doesn't exist? As I said, it is in a printed newspaper. It was a local newspaper and the archive is not available online. – Count Zero Jan 07 '12 at 19:51
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    @Oddthinking - "personality cult" (more canonically, "[cult of personality](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult_of_personality)") is an official name for the phenomena. Originally ("Культ личности" in Russian) coined to refer to Stalin by Nikita Khruschyov during Stalinism-denouncing [20th KPSS assembly in 1956](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/20th_Party_Congress). – user5341 Jan 07 '12 at 22:31
  • @CountZero - while "I read it in an old newspaper" is a plausible way to introduce a fake claim, I would personally advise people to assume innocence until proven guilty. Especially since a trick like that - while doubtful as far as technological implementation - sounds right up the Eternal Leader's alley concept wise. – user5341 Jan 07 '12 at 22:37
  • @Moderators - I have a feeling that the question was written by an ESL person and could greatly benefit from a competent editor. I would rather trust someone better than me to do so as I'm unclear on precise good wording. – user5341 Jan 07 '12 at 22:38
  • @Oddthinking - BTW, googling for "cult of personality" returns 3 million hits (plus half a mil for "personality cult"), most seemingly relevant, so it's not like the phrase is unknown outside of Russia. – user5341 Jan 07 '12 at 22:42
  • @DVK: Maybe Oddthinking is so skeptical that he doesn't believe in that source... ;) – Count Zero Jan 07 '12 at 22:53
  • @DVK, re: "cult of personality". I stand corrected. I was unfamiliar with this being an accepted term for the phenomena. Thank you; I learnt something! – Oddthinking Jan 08 '12 at 00:42
  • @Count Zero: I didn't mean to suggest it didn't appear in an old newspaper. I meant "Does anyone, in 2011, take the claim at all seriously?" I suspect it is either (a) a long-forgotten rumour from 40 years ago, or (b) a long-forgotten propaganda piece from 40 years ago. Either way, are there Internet users who believe it to be true. If not, why are we bothering? How are we making the Internet a better place? – Oddthinking Jan 08 '12 at 00:49
  • @Oddthinking: That's ok, I agree with you, let's make the Internet a better place. :) It seems to bee really a propaganda move, as the answer suggests. I was wondering how they pulled it off (if they ever did) and if they did, why nobody ever did it again. – Count Zero Jan 08 '12 at 10:41

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It seems that I have finally found the answer to my question courtesy of another SE site: Is there a way to create an artificial solar eclipse?

Seems it is technically not feasible, for one thing because of the scattering of sunlight in the atmosphere, which would presume the necessity to create outside the terrestrial atmosphere an object that covers the sun.

What's more interesting, is that in the Simpsons Montgomery Burns has a device to create solar eclipses. This could be really the source of this legend, especially since the idea of the eclipse is absolutely in unison with what is (still) going on there in North Korea.

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Count Zero
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  • Your links appear to be wrong for some reason (not due to the Community edit, which only modified the protocol). – JAB Aug 22 '17 at 19:58