The globe is watching North Korea and its secluded leader, Kim jong-un North Korea, as President Trump prepares for a momentous meeting with the country. Kim is indeed the 3rd leader of his family’s authoritarian empire, which is one of the world’s remaining genuine absolute monarchies. Yet, considering his unprecedented power in Korea and control of nuclear bombs and ballistic missiles, surprisingly little information is available about him.
According to Van Jackson, a Korean security expert and associate professor at the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, North Korea’s secrecy makes most information coming out of the nation challenging to verify. In the absence of a reliable official biography, Jackson explained that the publicly available material about Kim reflects a “wide consensus understanding” among specialists who maintain a close eye on the regime. What you need to know about North Korea’s reclusive leader is as follows:
Early years
Reports from state-controlled media Kim was born on January 8, 1982; however, some sources claim he was born in 1983 or 1984. He is Kim Jong-son Il’s and Kim Il Sung’s grandson, the founding father of North Korea’s communist state, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Kim is his father’s third and youngest son, born to Ko Young Hee, his father’s third wife.
According to a Vanity Fair profile authored by political journalist Mark Bowden, he attended two elite schools in Switzerland in the 1990s: the International School of Berne in Gümligen and the Liebefeld Steinhölzli school near Bern. According to the BBC, he eventually returned to Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital, to study at the Kim Il-Sung Military University.
Kim Jong-Nam, Kim’s late estrange half-brother, who assassinated on February 13 at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia, according to Dr. Robert Kelly, a political science professor at Pusan National University in South Korea. Until roughly 2009, Kim Jong-Nam being groomed for the job. Kim Jong-un “lacks the deep institutional and emotive links with Pyongyang’s elite that his father and grandfather had,” according to Kelly. When his father fell ill, he “parachuted in late,” according to Kelly.
Ascend to power
Kim was named to the state’s National Defense Commission in 2009. The following year, he elevated to four-star general and was named vice chairman of the Workers’ Party of Korea Central Committee and the Central Military Commission. When Kim Jong-Il died in December 2011, Kim jong-un quickly installs themself as the party’s, state’s, and Army’s leader. Kim marries Ri Sol-Ju, according to official media, in 2012.
Kim is a basketball specialist, according to reports. Dennis Rodman, a former NBA star, has visited North Korea multiple times on Kim’s invitation. Kim has a daughter named Ju-Ae, Rodman later revealed to The Guardian. In the same year, Kim promotes to Marshal of the North Korean Army, the country’s highest military rank. In 2014, he was missing for a short time before reappearing with a cane.
Kim’s brutal measures to acquire and maintain power since gaining control in 2011 were the highlight in a 2016 study by the US Department of Defense on North Korea’s military capability. “By embracing the coercive techniques utilized by his father and grandfather, Kim has consolidated his grasp on power. His dictatorship has utilized force and the threat of force and repression of dissenters to “co-opt” the state military and elites, strengthen military defense capabilities, and challenge the United States and its South Korean ally. The White House announced on May 10 that Trump and Kim would meet in Singapore on June 12 for a summit.
Nuclear weapons program by Kim Jong Un:
According to the US Department of Defense, Kim adopted a policy of co-developing the country’s economy and nuclear weapons programs in April 2013. However, North Korea has continued to build intermediate and long-range ballistic missiles while also conducting a succession of nuclear tests since that time. Kim’s father reportedly tested nuclear explosive devices in 2006 and 2009 before assuming control of the country.
In addition, Kim’s dictatorship is thought to have breach international rules six times to test nuclear weapons, the most recent of which occurred in September 2017. As a result, the US has been seeking to reach an agreement with North Korea in recent months in which Kim would stop his nuclear program.
The diplomatic truce, however, did not endure long. Kim threatened to pull out of the summit and slammed the US in a series of angry pronouncements. In response, Trump announced the cancellation of the planned meeting in a signed letter. A week later, Trump stated that the summit had been rescheduling after receiving a letter from Kim from a North Korean ambassador. The highly anticipates gathering will take place at the luxurious Capella Hotel on Sentosa Island in Singapore.
Birth and death:
The age of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is a point of contention. His birth date is January 8, 1984, by the United States Treasury Department in 2016. However, other sources claim he was born on the same date in 1983. His mother was Ko Yong Hui, and his father was Kim Jong Il, North Korea’s former leader who reigned from 1994 to 2011. Kim jong undead in 2011. A repeatedly asked question is how tall Kim jong-un is? He was 5’7 ft. Kim jong-un net worth five billion dollars.
Family of Kim Jong-un:
He is the third-youngest son of his father’s seven children, four daughters, and three sons. Kim Jong Nam, his oldest half-brother, was supposed to be their father’s successor. However, in February 2017, Kim Jong Nam was poisoned and died. Kim jong-un sister was also well known. Kim Jong Un spent two years as a youth at Liebefeld-Steinhölzli Schule, a Swiss state school. Under the alias Pak Un, he attended the school. He is thought to have returned to Pyongyang after abruptly leaving school when he was roughly 17 years old. He had low grades in
natural sciences while in Switzerland but outstanding music and technical courses. He is said to have a fondness for cheese and a habit of heavy smoking. Both of which have contributed to his health and weight issues. He enjoyed American basketball and was a Michael Jordan admirer when he was younger.
Dennis Rodman, a retired NBA star, is Kim Jong Un’s buddy. Who visited him in North Korea on multiple occasions. He holds two degrees, one in physics from Kim Il Sung University and the other in Army officership from Kim Il Sung Military University.
Kim jong-un wife:
In 2009, he married Ri Sol Juv; she was Kim jong-un wife, and the pair had a daughter named Ju Ae in 2012. Kim Jong Un is said to have more than one child. Since taking control in 2011, he has executed around 300 people, including at least 140 prominent officials. In 2013, he had his uncle Jang Song Thaek arrested and killed for betrayal. In North Korea, Kim jong-un was born. Therefore, it is frequently asked whether Kim jong-un is alive or is Kim jong undead. Kim jong un death news was given on December 7, 2011; Kim jong unhealth was not good when he died.
The political party of Kim Jong Un:
The party congress, overseen by an elected Central Committee, is the highest authority in the KWP. Party congresses which suppose to supervise every five years. But this rule was only follow through the Fifth Party Congress (1970); a decade later, a Sixth Party Congress was held, but a seventh was not held until 2016, under Kim jong-un. The Political Bureau directs the party’s policy. The KWP is in charge of the election system and compiles lists of candidates who have been accepted.
Political actions:
The KWP gets support from various other nominal political parties and social organizations. Still, the KWP directs all political actions. Which requires its approval and must adhere to its policy and policies. Technically, anyone can join the party. However, members must meet “reliability” standards such as political loyalty and social status in practice. Industrial workers make up most of the party’s membership, followed by peasants and “intellectuals” (office workers).
Applicants must demonstrate their qualifications and have two party members endorse them. Who has been in good standing for the past two years? Members of the KWP are among the country’s elite, and they get particular treatment. When it comes to housing, education, and food. The KWP’s primacy was thought to have eroded slightly in the late 1990s when Kim Jong Il implement a sngun (“military first”) program that elevates the military’s significance concerning the party.
The KWP, on the other hand, continue to have control over mass organizations of various civilian groups, such as youth, farmers, and workers, and eventually remained in control of all economic activity in the country, albeit not always directly. You can also read more articles related to Talking Points Memo in which we explain politics
