en ru
From 5 p.m. to 5 a.m.
1990
Jeong Woon Kim
Biography
Kim Jong Un (born 8 January 1982, 1983 or 1984) is a North Korean politician and dictator who serves as both the general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) and the president of the State Affairs Commission, while also holding the highest offices of the North Korean military. A member of the Kim family, he is the third supreme leader of North Korea, as well as the fifth child of Kim Jong Il, his predecessor as supreme leader, and a grandson of Kim Il Sung, the founder of North Korea.
The second of three children of Kim Jong Il and his mistress Ko Yong Hui, Kim studied at the International School of Berne in Switzerland before attending Kim Il Sung University between 2002 and 2007. From 2009, Kim was viewed as the successor to the North Korean leadership. Following his father's death in 2011, state television announced Kim as the "great successor to the revolutionary cause". He assumed various leadership posts, and also became member of the Presidium of the WPK Politburo, the highest decision-making body in the country. In July 2012, Kim was promoted to the highest rank of marshal in the Korean People's Army, consolidating his positions as commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces and Chairman of the Central Military Commission.
Like his father and grandfather before him, Kim Jong Un rules North Korea, and his leadership has maintained the Kim family cult of personality. State media often refer to him as "Respected Comrade" or "Marshal". Kim's regime has been accused of human rights violations. He reportedly ordered the purge and execution of several North Korean officials including his uncle, Jang Song-thaek, in 2013. He is also widely believed to have ordered the assassination of his half-brother, Kim Jong-nam, in Malaysia in 2017. Kim Jong Un's ideology departed from his father's military-first Songun policy, professing a "people-first policy" and renewed commitment to communism. Kim revived the Kim Il Sung-era pyŏngjin policy, of parallel development of the country's economy and military, focusing on the country's nuclear weapons program. He has revived the structures of the WPK, expanding the party's power at the expense of the military leadership.
Kim oversaw the world's four most recent nuclear weapons tests and extensive missile tests, including its first intercontinental ballistic missile. These heightened tensions with South Korea, the United States, and China, culminating in the 2017–2018 North Korea crisis. In 2018 and 2019, Kim took part in summits with Chinese President Xi Jinping and South Korean president Moon Jae-in and U.S. president Donald Trump, the first meetings between a North Korean and a U.S. head of state. Despite the brief thaw in relations, the negotiations ultimately broke down without progress on reunification of Korea or nuclear disarmament. He claimed success in combating the COVID-19 pandemic, with the country not reporting confirmed cases until May 2022, although independent observers questioned this claim. In December 2023, Kim declared that North Korea formally abandoned efforts to reunify Korea and symbolically demolished the Arch of Reunification. In June 2024, Kim signed a security and defense treaty with Russia, while supplying Russia with materiel for the Russo-Ukrainian war. In October, North Korea sent soldiers to assist Russian units in the Kursk campaign.
The second of three children of Kim Jong Il and his mistress Ko Yong Hui, Kim studied at the International School of Berne in Switzerland before attending Kim Il Sung University between 2002 and 2007. From 2009, Kim was viewed as the successor to the North Korean leadership. Following his father's death in 2011, state television announced Kim as the "great successor to the revolutionary cause". He assumed various leadership posts, and also became member of the Presidium of the WPK Politburo, the highest decision-making body in the country. In July 2012, Kim was promoted to the highest rank of marshal in the Korean People's Army, consolidating his positions as commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces and Chairman of the Central Military Commission.
Like his father and grandfather before him, Kim Jong Un rules North Korea, and his leadership has maintained the Kim family cult of personality. State media often refer to him as "Respected Comrade" or "Marshal". Kim's regime has been accused of human rights violations. He reportedly ordered the purge and execution of several North Korean officials including his uncle, Jang Song-thaek, in 2013. He is also widely believed to have ordered the assassination of his half-brother, Kim Jong-nam, in Malaysia in 2017. Kim Jong Un's ideology departed from his father's military-first Songun policy, professing a "people-first policy" and renewed commitment to communism. Kim revived the Kim Il Sung-era pyŏngjin policy, of parallel development of the country's economy and military, focusing on the country's nuclear weapons program. He has revived the structures of the WPK, expanding the party's power at the expense of the military leadership.
Kim oversaw the world's four most recent nuclear weapons tests and extensive missile tests, including its first intercontinental ballistic missile. These heightened tensions with South Korea, the United States, and China, culminating in the 2017–2018 North Korea crisis. In 2018 and 2019, Kim took part in summits with Chinese President Xi Jinping and South Korean president Moon Jae-in and U.S. president Donald Trump, the first meetings between a North Korean and a U.S. head of state. Despite the brief thaw in relations, the negotiations ultimately broke down without progress on reunification of Korea or nuclear disarmament. He claimed success in combating the COVID-19 pandemic, with the country not reporting confirmed cases until May 2022, although independent observers questioned this claim. In December 2023, Kim declared that North Korea formally abandoned efforts to reunify Korea and symbolically demolished the Arch of Reunification. In June 2024, Kim signed a security and defense treaty with Russia, while supplying Russia with materiel for the Russo-Ukrainian war. In October, North Korea sent soldiers to assist Russian units in the Kursk campaign.
