5 things we don’t know about Kim Jong-un, the supreme leader of North Korea who turns 40

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un turns 40 this Monday. Or at least that’s what most experts and sources believe, pinning his birth year as 1984.

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

The third of the Kim dynasty, who ruled with an iron fist under a communist system for more than seventy years, has since established himself as a major figure in geopolitics, both in the Northeast Asian region and globally.

He is a continuation of his father’s ‘songun’ policy, which prioritizes military development a nuclear arsenal which the regime sees as its guarantee of survival and tries to use as a bargaining chip in international diplomacy.

This, combined with its ability to manufacture and launch long-range missiles, puts the United States, a country it considers its main enemy and often threatens, within its reach for nuclear attack.

Relations with South Korea, with which the country has been in a technical state of war since 1953, have gone through phases of tension and relaxation. gestures of reconciliation, but also frequent threats and specific military clashes who never achieved a serious climb.

Kim has taken advantage of the distance from the United States of his two allies in the region, Russia and China, to improve his ties with them, especially with Moscow, to which, according to the Ukrainian government, he has supplied weapons despite doing so through harsh measures was forbidden. international sanctions…

Kim Jong-un’s North Korea, like that of his predecessors, is also characterized by poverty, hunger and poverty the extreme secrecy surrounding all information entering and leaving the country, and especially those relating to the political elite.

Therefore, there are important questions about the North Korean supreme leader and his governance of the country that have no definitive 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‘ he explained to the BBC Edward Howelprofessor of politics at the University of Oxford and one of the leading experts on hermetic North Korea.

His birthday, January 8, is a normal working day in North Korea, unlike the birthdays of his father and grandfather.

Kim Jong Il’s birthday is celebrated every year on February 16 as Bright Star Day, while Kim Il Sung’s birthday is on April 15 on Sunday. Both are important communist holidays in the country.

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

It is known that Kim Jong-un has 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 largely kept secret, out of the public eye.

The current leader’s mother, Ko Young-hui, was said to have been born in Japan and came to North Korea in the 1960s to work as a dancer, becoming a favorite of Kim Jong-il’s many associates.

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

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

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

2. Who is Kim Jong-un’s wife?

Again, we do not have complete information.

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

Little is known about “Comrade Ri Sol-ju” and it is believed that she was 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 congressman cited intelligence sources Ri Sol-ju had visited South Korea in 2005 as part of a Northern cheerleading team for the Asian Athletics Championships, and that she had studied singing in China.

North Korea has provided no details other than introducing 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 these were never officially confirmed.

It is believed that two previous children were born in 2010 and 2013, but it is unknown whether any of them are male and therefore a potential successor. Little is actually known about them.

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

“We still don’t know the full story of his children,” Howell explains, reminding us that he was the former U.S. basketball star Dennis Rodman who, after striking up 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 their mothers are,” added Howell, the North Korea expert.

Contrary to popular belief (and even a recent South Korean intelligence report), Howell does not believe Kim Ju-ae is willing to replace the leader when the opportunity arises.

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

‘The North Korean leader appears with his daughter at rocket launchesat banquets or at football games because he wants to be seen as a family man and a benevolent leader,” Howell says.

4. How does Kim Jong-un get money despite sanctions and economic isolation?

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

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

“The country has a bribe-targeting fund specifically designed for use by the regime. “Kim wants to continue like this because he wants him and his family to continue living a luxurious lifestyle,” he says.

There is networks in countries around the world that provide money to North KoreaHowell estimates, and there are allegations that the leader can also get money in other illegal ways.

“People often think that North Korea is an isolated country that has no internet. The country has a state-run internet and cyber warfare has become a key strategy: the Kim regime hacks computer systems in other countries to steal money and thereby manage its economy and finance its nuclear program,” Howell explains.

5. How is Kim Jong-un dealing with the economic crisis in North Korea?

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

After thanking his troops for their efforts against the pandemic and the recent natural disasters, wiped away the tears as we talked about the country’s challenges. It was a show of emotion never before seen from a North Korean leader.

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

However, a look at the North Korean leader’s apparently lavish lifestyle might reveal otherwise.

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

A Russian military commander who accompanied Kim Jong Il – the current leader’s father – on tour in 2001 spoke of his opulence.

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

The South Korean intelligence services assure this every year North Korea imports hundreds of millions of dollars worth of luxury goods and it is believed that some of it is for the leader and those close to him.

This contrasts with the poverty that most North Koreans suffer.

Residents of North Korea told the BBC that food is so scarce that several of their neighbors have starved to death. Experts believe this is the worst situation since the 1990s.

To Howell, this is an indication of Kim’s priorities.

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