Kim jong who is

Though Jong-il saw in his son a worthy successor to the dynasty, there are critical differences between the first two Kims and Kim Jong-un. In contrast with his battle-hardened elders, Kim Jong-un grew up in a cocoon of indulgence and privilege. During the s famine, in which as many as 2—3 million North Koreans died as a result of starvation and hunger-related illnesses, Kim was in Switzerland.

For Kim, skiing in the Swiss Alps and swimming in the French Riviera must have seemed part of his birthright. Kim had a temper, hated to lose, and loved Hollywood movies and basketball player Michael Jordan.

We were always in the second tier … The teachers would see him struggling ashamedly and then move on. They left him in peace. He was much more interested in football and basketball than lessons. His strong self-esteem and confidence were cultivated beginning when he was very young.

And the Kim family dynasty—a totalitarian regime—carefully created a cult of personality around the young boy, as it had done with his father and grandfather before him, reinforcing it through fear and intimidation and shows of force. According to Fujimoto, Kim carried a Colt.

Everything—our parents, family, home, neighborhood, school, country—revolves around us. For most people, what follows is a long process of dethronement, as His Majesty the Child confronts the ever more obvious and humbling truth.

Not so for Kim. His world at age 5 has turned out to be his world at age 30 … Everyone does exist to serve him. These tools allowed him to validate his persecution of any real or suspected dissenters, and to maintain a horrific network of prison camps in which torture, rape, beatings, and a variety of other human rights violations continue to take place to this day, as they have done for many decades.

As the U. The markings on the street are for military parades—a hallmark of dictatorships the world over. As a scholar of U. Kim Jong-un seems determined to avoid that fate.

Kim has adopted the mantle of the mythical, godlike leadership role that grandfather and country founder Kim Il-sung and his father Kim Jong-il held and continue to hold in their death. But he seems determined to chart his own path.

Kim has allowed himself to seem more transparent and accessible than his father. He appears in public with his pretty and fashionable young wife, Ri Sol-ju with whom he has at least one child, and possibly three. He hugs, holds hands, and links arms with men, women, and children, seeming comfortable with both young and old. That transparency has been extended to the government.

When one of its satellite launches failed in April , the regime admitted the failure publicly, the first time it had ever done so. During his frequent public appearances, Jong-un can be seen giving guidance at various economic, military, and social and cultural venues, as his father and grandfather did, but he is also shown pulling weeds, riding roller coasters, navigating a tank, and galloping on a horse.

He is comfortable with technology in the form of cell phones and laptops, and is also portrayed speaking earnestly with nuclear scientists and overseeing scores of missile tests. According to South Korean intelligence, the couple have three children. Mr Kim's sister, Kim Yo-jong, holds a senior post in the Workers' Party of Korea - and stole the limelight when she represented her brother at the Winter Olympics in the South.

It is not known whether his elder brother, Kim Jong-chol, holds an official role. In April , rumours about Kim Jong-un's health alleged he might have undergone a serious operation and there was uncertainty about his recovery.

The reports were based on South Korean fringe publication Daily NK and seemed to be backed up by the fact that Mr Kim had missed the anniversary of his grandfather's birthday, the almost mythical founder of North Korea, Kim Il-sung. Whether true or not, the intense speculation over the health of the obese year-old reveal a crucial weakness of the North Korean dynasty. The question of succession has the potential to bring the brutally enforced authoritarian structure to the brink of disintegration each time a leader passes away.

Mr Kim's children are said to be too young to be even considered for succession. In the framework of North Korea's political mythology, power is legitimised by the Mount Paektu bloodline going back to Kim Il-sung. The further removed from the country founder a new generation is, the higher the chance a power struggle between party, army and government could escalate. North Korea crisis in words. Meet North Korea's first family.

Is Kim Jong-un getting a media makeover? This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Who is North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un? Image source, Reuters. Kim Jong-un has received numerous official titles since becoming North Korea's leader. Image source, AFP. The undated image shows Kim Jong-un as a student in Switzerland. In April , before his summit with President Moon Jae-in of South Korea, Kim announced that he would suspend the country's nuclear and missile testing and shut down the site where the previous six nuclear tests were held.

Kim struck a measured tone during his New Year's Day speech to open , in which he stressed the need to "lower the military tensions on the Korean Peninsula" and suggested he would send a delegation to compete in the upcoming Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. Nevertheless, he made sure to issue one of his usual threats to his overseas antagonists, warning the U.

His overtures, viewed by some analysts as an attempt to drive a wedge between U. On January 9, , representatives from North and South Korea met at the Panmunjom truce village, on the border between the two countries, for their first discussions in more than two years. The talks led to an arrangement in which North Korea would participate in the following month's Winter Olympics.

Along with its delegation, North Korea made its mark on the Games with the high-profile appearance of Kim Yo-jong , the leader's younger sister and the first member of the North's ruling family to visit South Korea. She offered hope for peace during a dinner with President Moon, saying, "Here's to hoping that we could see the pleasant people of the South again in Pyeongchang and bring closer the future where we are one again.

Shortly after the conclusion of the Olympics, two of President Moon's top aides traveled to Pyongyang for the first visit by South Korean officials since Kim took power in Although few details about the discussions emerged, the meeting did produce plans for a summit between the North and South Korean leaders at the Demilitarized Zone DMZ separating the two countries. The partly televised meeting was marked by moments of levity, with Kim jokingly apologizing for interrupting his counterpart's sleep with late-night missile testing.

But they also addressed the serious matters at hand, discussing a possible conference with the U. In late March , a green train pulled into the central station of Beijing, China, bearing hallmarks of the armored types previously used by North Korean leaders. It was later confirmed that the train was carrying Kim and his top aides, on what was believed to be his first foreign trip since taking power in Additionally, Xi hosted a banquet for Kim and his wife, and treated them to an art performance.

The surprise meeting came shortly before North Korea's scheduled talks with the South, and another historic summit, with the United States, on the horizon. On June 12, , Kim and Trump shook hands at the secluded Capella resort in Singapore, before heading off for private talks with their interpreters.

Their meeting, the first between a member of the Kim ruling family and sitting U. After top staffers joined them for extended discussions, the two leaders signed a joint statement in which Trump "committed to provide security guarantees" to North Korea and Kim "reaffirmed his firm and unwavering commitment to complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Despite Kim's expressed commitments to the peace process, North Korean factories continued to produce fissile material used in the creation of nuclear weapons.

In late July, The Washington Post reported that the regime was potentially building new liquid-fueled intercontinental ballistic missiles. The leaders shared friendly words, with Trump noting the country's great economic potential and Kim praising his counterpart's "courageous decision" to engage in talks.

However, the two sides abruptly finished their talks on the second day, reportedly over American refusal of North Korea's offer to dismantle its main nuclear facility— but not its entire weapons program — in exchange for the end of all sanctions.

Trump said that the meeting ended on good terms, regardless, and that Kim had pledged to continue refraining from nuclear and ballistic missile tests. Kim and Trump got together for a third time on June 30, , their engagement at the DMZ marking the first time a sitting U. Following their show of solidarity, it was announced that the two sides had designated negotiators for resumed discussions.

The train ride mirrored the one taken by his father, who met Putin in the same Russian city in Kim Byung-Kee of the ruling Democratic Party told reporters. The analysis also concluded that the conspiracy theories suggesting North Korea may have been exposing a Kim Jong Un look-alike are not credible.

The most noticeable change was the disappearance of the official portraits of his father and grandfather, former leaders Kim Jong Il and Kim Il Sung, from the main walls of official meetings. Instead, the communist regime religiously hung the two portraits in all public areas and individual homes.