How North Korean leader Kim Jong Un became one of the world's most feared dictators
Reuters/KCNA KCNA
- North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is regarded as one of the world's most repressive leaders.
- Despite his high-profile career, there is relatively little known about the reclusive 39-year-old.
- Here's what we do know about his life, and that of his family.
The current head of a dynasty that's ruled North Korea since the 1950s, Kim Jong Un took power at a young age and has ruled with an iron grip.
Between fear of nuclear annihilation, brinkmanship, and ongoing tensions with South Korea and the US, Kim has kept a firm hold on North Korea, with his people given very few freedoms.
Meanwhile, after having the most tense, heated exchanges with a US commander-in-chief in his country's history, Kim then met with President Donald Trump twice.
Over the years, there have also been speculation about Kim's health, and intense speculation over who his eventual successor will be.
But despite all this, relatively little is known of Kim, though a 2019 book called "The Great Successor" does give some tantalising details of his childhood.
Here's what we know about Kim, and how he became one of the world's most intimidating dictators.
Paul Szoldra, Jeremy Bender, Gus Lubin, and Veronika Bondarenko contributed to previous versions of this story.
DPRK propaganda via https://ift.tt/KHq6fiS
Kim's parents were future North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il and his consort, Ko Young Hee. He had an older brother named Kim Jong Chul and would later have a younger sister named Kim Yo Jong.
While Kim Jong Un's official birth year is 1982, various reports suggest that the year was changed for symbolic reasons, linked to being 70 years after the birth of Kim Il Sung and 40 years after the birth of Kim Jong Il.
When the US Treasury Department sanctioned Kim Jong Un in 2016, the agency listed his official date of birth as January 8, 1984.
DPRK propaganda via https://ift.tt/KHq6fiS
During this period, North Korea was ruled by "Great Leader" Kim Il Sung, the current ruler's grandfather. While Kim Jong Il, Kim Jong Un's father, was the heir apparent, Kim's path to command was far less certain.
REUTERS/Courtesy of Kenji Fujimoto
Called "Pak Un" and described as the son of an employee of the North Korean embassy, Kim Jong Un attended an English-language international school in Gümligen, near Bern, Switzerland.
He lived in the suburbs with his aunt, Ko Yong Suk, his uncle Ri Gang, and their three children, according to Anna Fifield's book "The Great Successor: The Divinely Perfect Destiny of Brilliant Comrade Kim Jong Un."
AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon
"He was funny," former classmate Marco Imhof told The Mirror in 2011. "Always good for a laugh."
"He had a sense of humor; got on well with everyone, even those pupils who came from countries that were enemies of North Korea," another former classmate told the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag. "Politics was a taboo subject at school ... we would argue about football, not politics."
AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, File
According to Fifield's book, classmates said Kim was embarrassed to answer questions in class and frequently lashed out because he struggled to speak in German.
"He kicked us in the shins and even spat at us," a former classmate told her.
The book also outlines how Kim was introverted, avoided girls, and wore Adidas tracksuits with Nike sneakers.
Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images
The young Korean reportedly had posters of Michael Jordan all over his walls during his Swiss school days. Although Kim Jong Un was overweight and only 5-foot-6, he was a decent basketball player.
"He was a fiercely competitive player, very explosive," former classmate Nikola Kovacevic told The Mirror. "He was the playmaker. He made things happen."
"He hated to lose. Winning was very important," said former classmate Marco Imhof.
He also had a "fantastic" collection of Nike sneakers.
Reuters
Upon his return to North Korea, Kim Jong Un attended Kim Il Sung Military University with his older brother. Some reports say they also started to attend their father's military field inspections around 2007.
With his father's health fading, Kim Jong Un was rapidly promoted up the chain of political and military leadership, despite having little experience in either.
He was made a four-star general, deputy chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party, and a member of the Central Committee, according to the BBC.
"Footsteps" looks and sounds like a propaganda song from the Soviet Union.
The song calls people to follow in "Our Admiral Kim's footsteps." Here's a sampling of the lyrics:
Footsteps, footsteps ... spreading out further the sound of a brilliant future ahead ... tramp, tramp, tramp, ah, footsteps.
Wikimedia Commons
Kim bears a clear resemblance to his grandfather, Kim Il Sung, in appearance, haircut, and mannerisms.
Rumors had circulated that Kim Jong Un had received plastic surgery to enhance the resemblance even further, although the North finally responded and called the allegations "sordid hackwork by rubbish media."
"The false report ... released by enemies is a hideous criminal act which the party, state, army and people can never tolerate," said the official Korean Central News Agency.
Getty Images
When Kim Jong Il died of a heart attack on December 17, 2011, the young Kim Jong Un inherited the world's fourth-largest military, a nuclear arsenal, and absolute control over North Korea.
He took over ahead of his older brother Kim Jong Chol, whom their father thought was "effeminate" and weak.
His other brother Kim Jong Nam apparently said negative things about the regime, according to The Australian. He was killed in 2017, reportedly on the orders of North Korea.
Taking the reins of the country when he was around 30, Kim Jong Un was the youngest head of state in the world when he took power.
AP
Among Kim Jong Un's most trusted advisers were his aunt Kim Kyong Hui and her husband, Jang Sung Taek, both 66 at the time.
The couple was reportedly ordered by Kim Jong Il to take control of the country's military and help the young leader consolidate his position while he gained more experience.
At a meeting of the DPRK Workers' Party, both were photographed sitting close by Kim. Their most important job, it seemed, was to push his role as a powerful figure among some of the generals who do not yet trust him, according to The Telegraph.
Martyn Williams/Rodong
On December 12, 2013, Kim Jong Un had his uncle Jang Sung Taek executed. He was charged with having tried to take control of North Korea through a military coup.
Following his uncle's execution, there were reports that Kim Jong Un continued to purge the rest of the uncle's family.
But North Korea's ambassador to the UK denied that Jang Sung Taek's family was also executed. Instead, the ambassador claimed that only Jang Sung Taek was killed by firing squad, following a trial.
KCNA via AP
Leaders in the Hermit Kingdom are often very secretive when it comes to their significant others, but Kim Jong Un often has his wife join him and allows photographs.
North Korean media revealed in July that he was married to Ri Sol Ju — a former cheerleader and singer — but no one knows exactly when they were married, according to NBC News.
South Korean intelligence believes the couple probably married in 2009 and had their first child in 2010.
Ri Sol Ju reportedly gave birth to a girl in 2013, and is believed to have had a third child in 2017.
Courtesy of Vice
Everyone in the family is apparently a huge Chicago Bulls fan.
His father owned a video library of "practically every game Michael Jordan played for the Chicago Bulls." Kim Jong Il tried unsuccessfully to get Jordan to visit in 2001.
Kim Jong Un had tons of Jordan posters as a kid. Brother Kim Jong Chol was photographed as a child wearing a Bulls Jersey: No. 91 — Dennis Rodman.
DPRK
In 2013, Kim was reportedly the target of an assassination attempt.
South Korean intelligence believed the young leader was targeted by "disgruntled people inside the North" after he demoted a four-star general, which resulted in a power struggle.
Perhaps as a means of reasserting control, Kim Jong Un became extremely belligerent, shutting down all links with South Korea and threatening thermonuclear war against his neighbor and the US.
His father and grandfather used to make these threats all the time, without following through.
Ahn Young-oon/AP
North Korea has continued to test ballistic missiles and nuclear devices under Kim Jong Un's rule, despite the threat of sanctions.
In 2013, North Korea conducted its third-ever nuclear test and its first under Kim Jong Un. Since then, Kim Jong Un has overseen additional nuclear tests, including the test of a hydrogen bomb, which is much more powerful, and dozens of missile tests, including missiles with the range to hit the US mainland.
In 2012, the country also launched its first satellite into space.
AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon
On February 13, 2017, Kim's half-brother Kim Jong Nam was fatally poisoned in an airport in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Amid worldwide suspicion of North Korean involvement, Malaysian police conducted an autopsy against the wishes of Kim's government and named a North Korean official and several other nationals as suspects, alongside two foreign women believed to be working as hired assassins.
By March, tensions escalated after Malaysia directly accused the North Korean government of orchestrating the murder.
North Korea issued an order that prevented Malaysian citizens from leaving the country, while Malaysia responded by canceling visa-free entry to North Koreans.
Korean Central News Agency via Reuters
Shortly after taking office, President Donald Trump reportedly labeled North Korea the single biggest threat to the US.
Breaking with former President Barack Obama's attempts at diplomatic negotiations via "strategic patience," the Trump administration started demanding North Korea's immediate de-nuclearization and hinted at the possibility of a preemptive military strike.
In November 2017, North Korea tested intercontinental-range ballistic missiles with the express purpose of threatening the US mainland — something that Trump swore he would prevent.
Throughout 2017 and early 2018, North Korea continued its nuclear threats, and Trump continued to taunt Kim.
In December 2017, then-National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster said the chance of war was "increasing every day."
Korea Summit Press Pool via AP
A secret trip to Beijing in March 2018 marked Kim's first known trip outside of North Korea since becoming supreme leader in 2011, and a historic departure from years of deteriorating relations with China.
Following up on his New Year's address that called for "peace and stability" between the two nations, Kim was the first North Korean leader to set foot on South Korean soil as part of a summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in.
The two leaders agreed to seek an end to the armistice agreement and sign a peace treaty, as well as achieve "complete" denuclearization.
Other measures that were announced included ending all propaganda broadcasts and leaflet drops along the border, creating a joint liaison office for the two countries, and holding four-way talks with the US and China.
North Korean TV via BBC Monitoring/Twitter
In January 2019, Kim Jong Un rode his personal armored train to China to spend his 35th birthday with Chinese President Xi Jinping. It was Kim's fourth trip to China in a year.
Kim went to Beijing for a four-day summit with China, North Korea's most important trading partner and a buffer against pressure from the US.
Evan Vucci/AP
After Trump tweeted in January 2018 that his nuclear button was bigger than Kim's, the US placed what Trump described as the "heaviest ever" sanctions against North Korea in February, which the country decried as "an act of war."
In March 2018, Trump accepted Kim's offer for a meeting to discuss denuclearization, which would later result in a historic first-time meeting between the two leaders and the signing of an agreement that called for establishing new US-North Korea relations and supporting building a stable peace on the Korean Peninsula.
REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
Though the meeting was widely received as a positive development for global relations, many experts and some Trump administration officials were reportedly frustrated with the slow-moving reality of denuclearization and concerned with the then-president's "very public embrace" of Kim.
US intelligence in late 2018 suggested that the rogue state had privately continued its nuclear activities, with US officials growing wary of Kim's promises for progress, which eventually gave way to threats toward the US as relations between China and South Korea blossomed.
(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
"As part of a bold new diplomacy, we continue our historic push for peace on the Korean Peninsula," Trump said in his address. "Our hostages have come home, nuclear testing has stopped, and there has not been a missile launch in 15 months."
Trump's comments were in sharp contrast to widespread reports that the US intelligence community had seen little progress towards denuclearization after the June 2018 summit.
A January 2019 report from the director of national intelligence concluded Pyongyang is "unlikely" to give up its nuclear weapons program.
Despite this, Trump touted optimism.
"If I had not been elected President of the United States, we would right now, in my opinion, be in a major war with North Korea with potentially millions of people killed," Trump said.
"Much work remains to be done, but my relationship with Kim Jong Un is a good one. And Chairman Kim and I will meet again on February 27 and 28 in Vietnam."
Associated Press
Kim was spotted smoking a cigarette in rural China during his nearly three-day, 2,000-mile train journey to the summit, in a rare, candid glimpse of the leader standing with his sister and an aide nearby.
His choice to take a train created speculation, with analysts floating several possibilities, including that the trip was a possible commentary on North Korea's relations with China, and another saying the leader didn't want to look needy.
Nhan Sang/VNA via Reuters
Trump said the summit ended early because Kim wanted total sanctions relief in exchange for only a few nuclear site closures.
North Korea contradicted Trump's reason for the collapsed summit in a rare press conference, and true to form, state media hailed the summit as "extraordinary" and "successful."
Evan Vucci/AP
The US and North Korea seem stalled on sanctions and nuclear tests, but the two leaders remained somewhat friendly — much to the concern of foreign policy experts.
Trump praised a "beautiful letter" he received from Kim, which was reportedly greetings for the US president's 73rd birthday.
"I think North Korea under [Kim's] leadership has tremendous potential," Trump told reporters.
KCNA via Reuters
As Business Insider's Ellen Ioanes wrote, the photoshoot was on Mt. Paektu, a symbolically important mountain for the Kim family.
Such releases often herald a major military announcement, and the photos had experts worried that North Korea had a nuclear advancement to unveil.
KCNA via Reuters
US intelligence indicated in late April 2020 that Kim could be incapacitated.
Although the Korean government denied such reports, news media in Japan reported days later that he was in a "vegetative state." On the same day, a Hong Kong-based outlet cited a source saying he was dead.
All reports on the leader's health remain unconfirmed, but that didn't stop reporters from raising questions about the North Korean line of succession.
Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP
In January 2021, shortly after President Joe Biden was sworn in, Kim gave an insight into where US-North Korea relations stood.
He declared the US as North Korea's "biggest enemy," adding that his country would continue to develop nuclear weapons and would look into acquiring new capabilities, per Voice of America News.
Reuters, Getty Images
North Korea banned mullets, certain piercings, branded t-shirts, and skinny jeans in a bid to keep the country free from "decadent" Western fashion trends, Insider reported in May 2021.
The new fashion rules were part of the regime's crackdown on "anti-socialist" and pro-capitalist behavior, according to Metro.
Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP, File
Kim's weight loss in 2021 apparently worried and upset North Koreans. According to Reuters, a Pyongyang resident told state TV that seeing him looking "emaciated" was breaking the hearts of people around the nation.
The weight loss once again prompted speculation on the leader's health and sparked questions about the stability of the regime and the line of succession.
Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP, File
Kim Jong Un declared the country's "first" COVID-19 outbreak in May 2022, more than two years after the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic.
The North Korean leader called the outbreak a "great disaster" and imposed strict nationwide lockdowns, The Guardian reported.
Radio Free Asia said that those who broke COVID-19 prevention measures were informed they would be forced to do hard labor.
In June, Kim blamed top officials for allowing the country to suffer "grave consequences" from the pandemic, adding that they had brought "tremendous harm to the country," per the Korean Central News Agency
Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP, File
In November 2022, Kim Jong Un unveiled his daughter, Kim Ju Ae, for the first time, The Washington Post reported.
State media published photos of Kim holding hands with her at a missile launch site, The Post said.
She was seen again later that month, inspecting troops and an ICBM with her father, sparking speculation that Kim was paving the way for a future successor, according to The Guardian.
Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP
Kim Ju Ae, believed to be 9 or 10 years old, is the first child Kim Jong Un has debuted in public. He is believed to have two other children.
In February 2023, Kim Ju Ae made a rare appearance at a military banquet, meeting with North Korea's top generals and officers, and sparking discourse that her father could be preparing her to eventually take over.
North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) via Reuters
Kim Jong Un hadn't been seen since January 2, 2023. His absence once again raised questions about his health.
However, after 36 days out of the public eye, Kim attended a meeting with military officers on February 6, 2023, during which he urged his country to "prepare for war," Insider reported.
Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP
Around a dozen long-range ICBMs were displayed at a military parade in Pyongyang, attended by Kim Jong Un, his daughter, and senior military officials.
The parade to make the 75th founding anniversary of North Korea's army followed a record year of missile testing by the country, which launched close to 100 cruise and ballistic missiles in 2022, inflaming tensions on the Korean peninsula, per CNN.
The late-night spectacle was described by state-run media as a display of Pyongyang's "nuclear attack capability," CNN reported.
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