5 things you don't know about Kim Jong-un, the supreme leader of North Korea

The leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-un, turned 40 this Monday. Or at least that is what most experts and sources believe, establishing her birth year as 1984.

Grandson of the country's founder, Kim Il Sung, he became one of the youngest leaders in history when he assumed power in 2011. after the death of his father, Kim Jong-il.

The third of the Kim dynastywhich has ruled with an iron fist under a communist system for more than seven decades, has since established itself as an important figure in geopolitics both in the Northeast Asian region and globally.

A continuator of his father's “songun” policy, which prioritizes military development, he has a nuclear arsenal that the regime considers its guarantee of survival and tries to use as a bargaining chip in international diplomacy.

This, added to its ability to manufacture and launch long-range rocketsputs the United States, a country it considers its main enemy and frequently threatens, within its atomic attack range.

Its relations with South Korea, with which it has been in a technical state of war since 1953, have gone through phases of tension and détente, with gestures of reconciliation but also frequent threats and specific military clashes that have never seriously escalated.

Kim has taken advantage of the distance between his two allies in the region, Russia and China, with the United States to improve his ties with them.especially with Moscow, which according to the Ukrainian government has provided weapons despite being prohibited from doing so by harsh international sanctions.

Kim Jong-un's North Korea, like that of his predecessors, is also characterized by poverty, hunger and extreme secrecy around all the information that enters and leaves the country, and especially the relative to his political elite.

That is why there are key questions about the North Korean supreme leader and his management of the country for which there are no conclusive answers.

Here we try to answer some of them.

1. When was Kim Jong-un born?

In reality, we don't know with absolute certainty.

“There is a wide debate about the year he was born, in 1982, 1983 or 1984,” Edward Howell, professor of Politics at the University of Oxford and one of the great experts on hermetic North Korea, explained to the BBC.

His birthday, January 8, is a normal workday in North Korea unlike his father's and grandfather's anniversaries.

Kim Jong-il's birthday is celebrated on February 16 each year as Bright Star Day, while Kim Il Sung's birthday on April 15 is Sun Day. Both are important holidays in the country. communist.

In any case – and as in the stages of his predecessors, especially Kim Jong-il – many of the details about his family are surrounded by mystery.

Kim Jong-un is known to have brothers on his father's side, one of whom, Kim Jong-nam, was assassinated in Malaysia in 2017. Experts believe the North Korean leader may have ordered the operation.

Kim Jong-il, Kim Jong-un's father, was credited with at least four different partners, although their relationships were mostly kept secret, out of the public eye.

The current leader's mother, Ko Young-hui, is believed to have been born in Japan and came to North Korea in the 1960s. to work as a dancer and became a favorite of Kim Jong-il's many consorts.

In 2018, photographs of Ko Young-hui taken during a visit to Japan in 1973 were found.

The South Korean newspaper Korea Times interpreted that North Korea has not revealed more public information about Kim Jong-un's mother due to her career as a dancer and her family history linked to Japan.

“Being born in Japan, which had occupied the Korean Peninsula during World War II, would normally relegate one to the lower social class in North Korea. But because Ko Young-hui married Kim Jong-il, she had a luxurious lifestyle,” Howell claims.

2. Who is Kim Jong-un's wife?

Once again, we do not have complete information.

His wife, Ri Sol-ju, is known and appears in ceremonies and state media, but it is unknown when they married (it is speculated that it may have happened in 2009).

Little is known about the “Comrade Ri Sol-ju” and is believed to have been a singer who caught Kim's attention during a performance.

There is a North Korean artist with that name; It is believed to be her although it has never been officially confirmed that it is the same person.

A South Korean lawmaker cited intelligence sources as saying that Ri Sol-ju had visited South Korea in 2005 as part of a North Korean cheerleading team for the Asian Athletics Championships, and had studied singing in China.

North Korea has not offered any details, other than presenting her as Kim's wife.

3. How many children does Kim Jong-un have?

Here we have another family fact that is difficult to specify.

In 2016, there were speculations that Ri Sol-ju was pregnant after disappearing from the public eye, but they were never officially confirmed.

Two previous children are believed to have been born in 2010 and 2013, but it is not known if either is a boy and therefore a potential successor. In fact, little is known about them.

The North Korean leader has appeared in front of the cameras with a daughter, Kim Ju-ae, who is believed to be the second of the couple. She is about 10 years old and is the only one known, as she appeared in public at least five times in 2023.

“We still don't know the full story of her children,” Howell explains, reminding us that it was former American basketball star Dennis Rodman who, after forging a friendship with Kim Jong-un, revealed his daughter's name in an interview in 2013.

“He has other children but very little is known about them. “We don’t know who her mothers are,” adds Howell, the North Korea expert.

Contrary to what many analysts believe (and even a recent report from South Korea's intelligence services), Howell does not believe that Kim Ju-ae is being prepared to replace the leader when the opportunity arises.

He is still young and Kim Yo-jong, Kim Jong-un's influential sister, has more experience and better connections with the
elite, which may make her the most likely candidate to succeed her brother.

“The North Korean leader appears with his young daughter at missile launches, at banquets or at soccer games because he wants to be seen as a family man and a benevolent leader,” says Howell.

4. How does Kim Jong-un obtain funds despite sanctions and economic isolation?

North Korea and its leader have faced harsh sanctions imposed by the United Nations and several Western countries for years for their development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.

But Howell says Kim Jong-un is doing everything he can to evade these sanctions.

“The country has a fund dedicated to bribes and designed specifically for the regime to use. “Kim wants to continue like this because he wants him and his family to continue having a luxury lifestyle,” she says.

There are networks in countries around the world that provide funds to North Korea, Howell estimates, and there are accusations that the leader may also obtain funds in other illicit ways.

“People often think that North Korea is an isolated country that lacks the internet. It has an internet managed by the State and cyberwarfare has become an important strategy: the Kim regime hacks computer systems in other countries to steal money to manage its economy and finance its nuclear program,” explains Howell.

5. How does Kim Jong-un face the economic crisis in North Korea?

During a military parade in 2020, the supreme leader showed a previously unknown face.

After thanking his troops for their efforts against the pandemic and recent natural disasters, He wiped away tears as he spoke about the country's challenges. It was a display of emotion never before seen in a North Korean leader.

Some observers have suggested he may be trying to express humility at a time of growing economic crisis.

However, a look at the North Korean leader's seemingly lavish lifestyle may indicate otherwise.

Kim Jong-un continues the tradition started by his grandfather, Kim Il-sung, of traveling long distances on luxury trains.

A Russian military commander who accompanied Kim Jong-il – the current leader's father – on a tour in 2001 spoke of his opulence.

“You could order any dish from Russian, Chinese, Korean, Japanese and French cuisine,” he wrote in his memoirs.

South Korean intelligence services assure that every year North Korea imports luxury products worth hundreds of millions of dollars and it is believed that part of them are for the leader and his close circle.

This contrasts with the poverty suffered by most North Koreans.

North Korean residents told the BBC that food is so scarce that several of their neighbors died of hunger. Experts believe it is the worst situation since the 1990s.

For Howell, this is indicative of Kim's priorities.

“All he wants is to preserve not only the regime, but his own oppressive and tyrannical leadership. He doesn't seem to care about the 26 million inhabitants of his country,” he says.

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