North Korean officials have made the news in recent years for their staunch stance against nuclear disarmament and ongoing battles with South Korea, but recent word out of the country is perhaps even more shocking.
Researchers have discovered a secret lair where past rulers kept a unicorn and therefore found proof that the mythical beast once existed.
The news was released by the Korean Central News Agency and verified that the lair, located in Pyongyang, was used by an ancient king to house a unicorn. Korean archaeologists reportedly discovered the lair when they found a large rock featuring a carving of the words “unicorn lair” near the city’s main temple.
“Archaeologists of the History Institute of the DPRK Academy of Social Sciences have recently reconfirmed a lair of the unicorn rode by King Tongmyong, founder of the Koguryo Kingdom,” reports the Korean Central News Agency. T
History books in the country also mention that the ancient Korean King Tongmyong once rode the animal at the lair.
The reasoning behind the report is not yet known, though some believe it is a response to continued spoof news stories printed in “The Onion.”
Not The First Reports Of Unicorns
In 2008, a living unicorn has been discovered in the Tuscany region of Italy – that is, if you define “unicorn” as a beast with a single horn.
ROME – A deer with a single horn in the center of its head — much like the fabled, mythical unicorn — has been spotted in a nature preserve in Italy, park officials said Wednesday. The 1-year-old Roe Deer — nicknamed “Unicorn” — was born in captivity in the research center’s park in the Tuscan town of Prato, near Florence, Tozzi said. He is believed to have been born with a genetic flaw; his twin has two horns. Single-horned deer are rare but not unheard of — but even more unusual is the central positioning of the horn, experts said. “Generally, the horn is on one side (of the head) rather than being at the center. This looks like a complex case,” said Fulvio Fraticelli, scientific director of Rome’s zoo. He said the position of the horn could also be the result of a trauma early in the animal’s life. (MSN-AP, June 11, 2008)
According to reports, the mother deer was injured by a car while pregnant with the twins, possibly causing the horn to be shifted to the middle of the head. The deer may not be a “unicorn” for long; it will soon shed its horn, as deer generally do, and it is not certain that the single horn will regrow as it is. A good video of the deer in the Tuscany park can be seen, with useful commentary, on the Discovery Chanel web site.