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Respected Comrade
Kim Jong Un
김정은
Kim Jong-un April 2019 (cropped).jpg
Kim in 2019
General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea
Assumed office
11 April 2012
Preceded by Kim Jong Il
President of the State Affairs of North Korea
Assumed office
29 June 2016
First Vice President Choe Ryong Hae
Vice President
  • Hwang Pyong So
  • Pak Pong Ju
  • Choe Ryong Hae
  • Kim Tok Hun
Premier
  • Pak Pong Ju
  • Kim Jae Ryong
  • Kim Tok Hun
Preceded by Himself (as First Chairman of the National Defense Commission)
Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army
Assumed office
30 December 2011
Preceded by Kim Jong Il
First Chairman of the National Defense Commission
In office
11 April 2012 – 29 June 2016
Vice Chairman
  • Kim Yong Chun
  • Ri Yong Mu
  • Jang Song Thaek
  • O Kuk Ryol
  • Choe Ryong Hae
  • Hwang Pyong So
Premier
  • Choe Yong Rim
  • Pak Pong Ju
Preceded by Kim Jong Il (as Chairman)
Succeeded by Himself (as President of the State Affairs)
Member of the Supreme People's Assembly
In office
9 April 2009 – 11 April 2019
Constituency Paektusan 111
Personal details
Born (1982-01-08) 8 January 1982 (age 42) (per North Korean sources)
Pyongyang, North Korea
Political party Workers' Party of Korea
Spouse
(m. 2009)
Children 3 (unconfirmed), including Kim Ju-ae
Parents
Relatives Kim family
Alma mater
  • Kim Il Sung University
  • Kim Il Sung Military University
Signature
Military service
Allegiance North Korea
Branch/service Korean People's Army
Years of service 2010–present
Rank Marshal of the Republic
Korean name
Chosŏn'gŭl
Hancha
McCune–Reischauer Kim Chŏngŭn
Revised Romanization Gim Jeong(-)eun

Kim Jong Un (English: /ˌkɪm ɒŋˈʊn, -ˈn/; born 8 January 1982 or 1983) is a North Korean politician who has been supreme leader of North Korea since 2011 and the leader of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) since 2012. He is the third son of Kim Jong Il, who was North Korea's second supreme leader from 1994 to 2011, and Ko Yong Hui. He is a grandson of Kim Il Sung, who was the founder and first supreme leader of North Korea from its establishment in 1948 until his death in 1994.

Kim rules North Korea as a totalitarian state, and his leadership has followed the same cult of personality as his father and grandfather.

Early life

Kim Jong Un is the second of three children of Ko Yong Hui and Kim Jong Il; his elder brother, Kim Jong Chul, was born in 1981, while his younger sister, Kim Yo Jong, is believed to have been born in 1987. He is a grandson of Kim Il Sung, who was the founder of and led North Korea from its establishment in 1948 until his death in 1994. Kim is the first leader of North Korea to have been born a North Korean citizen, his father having been born in the Soviet Union and his grandfather having been born during the Japanese colonial period.

All of Kim Jong Il's children are said to have lived in Switzerland, as well as the mother of the two youngest sons, who lived in Geneva for some time. First reports said that Kim Jong Un attended the private International School of Berne in Gümligen in Switzerland under the name "Chol-pak" or "Pak-chol" from 1991 to 1998. He was described as shy, a good student who got along well with his classmates, and was a basketball fan. He was chaperoned by an older student, thought to be his bodyguard. His elder brother Kim Jong Chul also attended the school with him.

Schule Liebefeld-Steinhölzli, Köniz
The Liebefeld-Steinhölzli public school in Köniz, Switzerland, reportedly attended by Kim Jong Un

Later, it was reported that Kim Jong Un attended the Liebefeld Steinhölzli state school in Köniz, near Bern, under the name "Pak-un" or "Un-pak" from 1998 until 2000 as the son of an employee of the North Korean embassy in Bern. Authorities confirmed that a North Korean student from North Korea attended the school during that period. Kim first attended a special class for foreign-language children and later attended the regular classes of the 6th, 7th, 8th and part of the final 9th year, leaving the school abruptly in the autumn of 2000. He was described as a well-integrated and ambitious student who liked to play basketball. However, his grades and attendance rating are reported to have been poor.

Most analysts agree that Kim Jong Un attended Kim Il Sung University, a leading officer-training school in Pyongyang, from 2002 to 2007. Kim obtained two degrees, one in physics at Kim Il Sung University and another as an Army officer at the Kim Il Sung Military University.

Leader of North Korea

The statues of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il on Mansu Hill in Pyongyang (april 2012)
People bowing to the statues of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, April 2012

From late 2010, Kim was viewed as the successor to the North Korean leadership. Following his father's death in December 2011, state television announced Kim as the "Great Successor". He was publicly declared Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army on 24 December 2011.

Kim is a member of the Presidium of the WPK Politburo, the highest decision-making body in the country. He has been promoting a policy of byungjin, similar to his grandfather Kim il Sung's policies from the 1960s, developing the national economy in parallel with the country's nuclear weapons program.

Kim expanded the country's nuclear weapons program, which led to heightened tensions with the United States and South Korea, as well as China. In 2018 and 2019, Kim took part in summits with South Korean president Moon Jae-in and US president Donald Trump, leading to a brief thaw between North Korea and the two countries, though the negotiations ultimately broke down without progress on denuclearization. He has claimed success in combating the COVID-19 pandemic in North Korea, as the country did not report any confirmed cases until May 2022, although many experts doubt this claim.

He has presided over an expansion of the consumer economy, including entertainment and cosmetics. His government has overseen the construction of amusement parks, aquatic parks, skating rinks, a dolphinarium and a ski resort. Kim has promoted projects to create and develop tourist attractions in North Korea.

Human rights violations

In 2014, a United Nations Human Rights Council report suggested that Kim could be put on trial for crimes against humanity. He has ordered the purge and execution of several North Korean officials. He is also widely believed to have ordered the assassination of his half-brother, Kim Jong Nam, in Malaysia in 2017.

Family

On 25 July 2012, North Korean state media reported for the first time that Kim Jong Un was married to Ri Sol Ju. Ri, who was believed to be in her early 20s, had been accompanying Kim Jong Un to public appearances for several weeks prior to the announcement. According to a South Korean analyst, Kim Jong Il had hastily arranged the marriage after suffering a stroke in 2008, the two married in 2009, and they had a son in 2010. Dennis Rodman, after visiting in 2013, reported that they had a second newborn child, a daughter named Ju Ae. According to South Korean intelligence sources, the couple is believed to have had a third child, a daughter, in February 2017.

Kim is sometimes accompanied by his younger sister Kim Yo Jong, who is said to be instrumental in creating his public image and organising public events for him. According to Kim Yong-hyun, a professor of North Korean studies at Dongguk University in Seoul, and others, the promotion of Yo Jong and others is a sign that "the Kim Jong Un regime has ended its co-existence with the remnants of the previous Kim Jong Il regime by carrying out a generational replacement in the party's key elite posts".

Interesting facts about Kim Jong Un

  • North Korean authorities and state-run media have stated that Kim Jong Un was born on 8 January 1982, but South Korean intelligence officials believe that the actual date is a year later. It is thought that Kim's official birth year was changed for symbolic reasons; 1982 marked the seventieth birthday of his grandfather Kim Il Sung, and forty years after the official birth of his father Kim Jong Il.
  • Kim was described by classmates in Switzerland as a shy child who was awkward with girls and indifferent to political issues, but who distinguished himself in sports and had a fascination with the American National Basketball Association and Michael Jordan.
  • Kim holds the titles of General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and President of the State Affairs.
  • In July 2012, Kim was promoted to the highest rank of Marshal in the Korean People's Army.
  • North Korean state media often refer to him as "Respected Comrade Kim Jong Un" or "Marshal Kim Jong Un".
  • For many years, only one confirmed photograph of Kim was known to exist outside North Korea, apparently taken in the mid-1990s, when he was eleven. The first official image of him as an adult was released on 30 September 2010.
  • In November 2021, the South Korean National Intelligence Service reported that the North Korean government has begun using the term "Kimjongunism", in an effort to establish an independent ideological system centered on Kim.

Awards and honors

  • Юбилейная медаль «75 лет Победы в Великой Отечественной войне 1941—1945 гг.» (лента).png Jubilee Medal "75 Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945" (Russia, 2020) — awarded for his efforts at preserving the memory of Soviet soldiers who died during the Soviet–Japanese War (1945) and were buried in North Korea

Images for kids

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Kim Jong-un para niños

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