Kuala Lampur, Sept. 5 -- When Chairman Kim Jong Un met President Vladimir Putin in Beijing this October, on the sidelines of the 80th anniversary commemorations marking the end of World War II in 1945, the spectacle did not end with their formal handshake.

As the leaders departed, Kim's aides moved in with precision: wiping down armrests, clearing the table, and even pocketing the glass from which he had sipped. What may appear as an obsession with cleanliness is in fact a hallmark of Pyongyang's statecraft. In North Korea's worldview, DNA is not mere residue-it is state intelligence.

From a hair strand or saliva trace, rivals could infer Kim's health, stamina, or hereditary vulnerabilities. In a regime where the leader embodies the nat...