Who Is Kim Jong Un

Kim Jong Un (Korean: 김정은) is a North Korean politician who has led North Korea, officially the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, since 17 December 2011. He succeeded his father, Kim Jong Il, and became the third member of the Kim family at the top of the state, after his grandfather Kim Il Sung and his father. Today he is General Secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea, President of the State Affairs Commission, Supreme Commander of the armed forces and holder of the rank of Marshal.

His life is shrouded in secrecy. North Korean authorities state that he was born on 8 January 1982, but South Korean intelligence officials believe this happened a year later, while the United States previously gave 1984. For this reason, this biography notes where sources differ.

Under his leadership, North Korea carried out four of its six nuclear tests, developed long-range missiles and took part in historic meetings with US President Donald Trump. He then turned the country toward Russia, signed a mutual defense treaty with Vladimir Putin and, in 2026, wrote the “two hostile states” policy toward South Korea into the constitution.

Origins and Childhood

Kim Jong Un comes from the most powerful political family in North Korea. His grandfather was Kim Il Sung, the founder of the state, and his father was Kim Jong Il, its second supreme leader from 1994 to 2011. His mother was Ko Yong Hui, a dancer who, according to available sources, died in 2004, probably of cancer. Sources do not give a clear answer as to whether she was Kim Jong Il’s official wife or his partner.

According to most sources, Kim Jong Un is the second of the three children of Ko Yong Hui and Kim Jong Il. His older brother Kim Jong Chol was born in 1981, and his younger sister Kim Yo Jong was probably born in 1987. Some sources call him the third son of Kim Jong Il, so the order of the children differs from text to text. He also had a half-brother, Kim Jong Nam.

Unlike his grandfather and father, Kim Jong Un is the first North Korean leader born after the founding of the state. His place of birth has not been confirmed, and Pyongyang is the one most often mentioned. According to a 2020 Radio Free Asia report, the official biography published by the North Korean authorities does not reveal his date or place of birth and begins with his student days.

Education

According to numerous reports, Kim Jong Un was educated in Switzerland. The first accounts said that from 1993 to 1998 he attended the International School of Berne in Gümligen under the name “Chol Pak” or “Pak Chol.” Some sources, however, believe that it was in fact his brother Kim Jong Chol who attended that school.

His time at the Liebefeld-Steinhölzli public school in Köniz near Bern is better documented. Local authorities confirmed that a North Korean student, registered as the son of an embassy employee and known as Pak Un, attended the school from August 1998 until the autumn of 2000. He was described as a hard-working, ambitious and well-integrated pupil who played basketball in his spare time. The authorities could not confirm the student’s identity, but a laboratory of anatomical anthropology at the University of Lyon compared a 1999 photograph with a 2012 image and concluded that the faces matched.

After returning to North Korea, most analysts believe he studied in Pyongyang from 2002 to 2007. He reportedly earned two degrees: one in physics from Kim Il Sung University and a military degree from Kim Il Sung Military University. Sources differ on the exact years and nature of his studies.

Becoming the Designated Successor

Until 2009, Kim Jong Un’s name was hardly mentioned among possible successors. His older brother Kim Jong Chol was considered uninterested in politics, and his half-brother Kim Jong Nam reportedly lost their father’s favor after 2001, when he tried to enter Japan on a forged passport. On 15 January 2009, the South Korean agency Yonhap reported that Kim Jong Il had chosen Kim Jong Un as his successor.

His public rise began on 27 September 2010. With no known military experience, he was promoted to four-star general, a day before a rare conference of the Workers’ Party of Korea. At the conference he was elected Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission and admitted to the Central Committee. State media then published a photograph of him as an adult for the first time.

In October 2010 he stood beside his father at the celebration of the 65th anniversary of the Party, which observers read as confirmation that he was the next leader. Analysts pointed out that his rise was very fast and was not accompanied by a public political or military career.

Taking Power

Kim Jong Il died on 17 December 2011, and state television then proclaimed Kim Jong Un the “Great Successor.” At the funeral, held on 28 December, other senior officials walked beside the hearse, among them his uncle Jang Song Thaek, who was regarded as the young leader’s mentor.

He took on his offices gradually. On 30 December 2011 he became Supreme Commander of the Korean People’s Army. On 11 April 2012 he was elected First Secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea, and two days later First Chairman of the National Defense Commission. In July 2012 he was promoted to Marshal, the highest military rank.

From the start he carried himself differently from his father. In July 2012 state media announced that he was married, a change from Kim Jong Il, who never publicly presented his wives. Kim promoted a policy of parallel development of the economy and nuclear weapons (Korean: byungjin), which he took over from the Kim Il Sung era.

Consolidating Power and Purges

In the first years of his rule, Kim Jong Un rebuilt the structures of the Workers’ Party of Korea and increased its power at the expense of the military leadership. At the same time, he removed and punished senior officials.

The best-known case is the execution of his uncle Jang Song Thaek, once regarded as the second most powerful man in the country. North Korean media announced on 12 December 2013 that he had been executed for treason. Accounts of the manner of the execution come mostly from South Korean sources and cannot be independently verified.

In February 2017, his half-brother Kim Jong Nam was poisoned at the airport in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. South Korean intelligence and many analysts believe that the order came from Pyongyang, but who commissioned the killing has not been officially confirmed. His rule has also been the target of accusations of human rights violations.

Nuclear and Missile Program

The development of nuclear weapons became the central pillar of his rule. North Korea carried out its first two nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009, before he came to power. Four were conducted during Kim Jong Un’s rule:

• 12 February 2013 – the country’s third nuclear test;
• 6 January 2016 – the fourth test, which Pyongyang presented as a hydrogen bomb test, a claim analysts doubt;
• 9 September 2016 – the fifth test, more powerful than all previous ones;
• 3 September 2017 – the sixth and most powerful test, which Pyongyang declared a hydrogen bomb and which analysts mostly believe was a thermonuclear device.

The missile program developed in parallel. In July 2017 two Hwasong-14 missiles were tested, and on 29 November 2017 the Hwasong-15 was launched, which Pyongyang claimed could strike the entire US mainland. On that occasion Kim announced that the goal of building the state nuclear force had been achieved. Many experts judged that North Korea had not yet proven it could reliably deliver a nuclear warhead.

Tensions then reached a peak. Donald Trump called Kim “Rocket Man” and threatened Pyongyang from the podium of the United Nations, while Kim responded with new tests.

After September 2017 no nuclear test was conducted. North Korea continued to test missiles, including hypersonic ones and those launched from submarines. At the first session of the Supreme People’s Assembly in March 2026, its nuclear status was declared “irreversible,” and the constitution gave the President of the State Affairs Commission command of the nuclear forces.

The Diplomatic Turn of 2018–2019

After the peak of tension, Kim opened a diplomatic channel in 2018. A North Korean delegation that included his sister Kim Yo Jong attended the opening of the Winter Olympics in South Korea.

In April 2018 he announced a halt to nuclear and long-range missile tests and the closure of the Punggye-ri test site. On 27 April, at a meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, he signed the Panmunjom Declaration. Moon also visited Pyongyang in September 2018.

On 12 June 2018, Kim met Donald Trump at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa Island in Singapore, in the first meeting between a sitting US president and a North Korean leader. The joint statement was thin on concrete commitments. The second summit, held in Hanoi on 27 and 28 February 2019, ended without an agreement because of differences between American demands for denuclearization and North Korean demands for sanctions relief.

On 30 June 2019, Trump crossed the military demarcation line at Panmunjom and became the first sitting US president to set foot on North Korean soil. Expert-level talks held in Sweden in October 2019 were soon broken off. Observers judge that the summits raised Kim’s international standing but did not bring denuclearization.

Alliance with Russia and Relations with China

After the talks with Washington failed, Kim steered foreign policy toward Moscow. The first summit with Vladimir Putin was held in Vladivostok on 25 April 2019. The second followed on 13 September 2023 at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the Amur region, Kim’s first trip abroad since the start of the pandemic.

Putin visited Pyongyang on 19 June 2024, where the two signed the Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, which provides for mutual military assistance in the event of an attack. Both sides ratified the treaty in November 2024.

Since October 2024, North Korea has been sending troops to Russia’s Kursk region. According to South Korean intelligence estimates, about 15,000 soldiers had been sent by September 2025, of whom about 2,000 had died, while later reports speak of about 20,000 soldiers and engineers in four waves. In September 2025, Putin publicly praised the bravery of the North Korean soldiers.

On 3 September 2025, Kim attended a military parade in Beijing alongside Chinese President Xi Jinping and Putin, accompanied by his daughter. It was the first time he had attended a major multilateral event. He held talks with Putin the same day and with Xi the next day, in their first formal meeting in six years.

Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed readiness for a new meeting. During his visit to South Korea in October 2025, he said that the timing could not be arranged, and Pyongyang had launched cruise missiles the day before. On 20 October 2026, Trump said he did not know whether a meeting would take place on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Shenzhen, China.

The “Two Hostile States” Policy

In December 2023, Kim publicly abandoned the goal of Korean unification and declared that the two Koreas were “two hostile states.” He ordered the demolition of symbols of inter-Korean cooperation, and the Arch of Reunification was destroyed between 19 and 23 January 2024.

In January 2024 he called for a change to the constitution, and at the first session of the 15th Supreme People’s Assembly, on 23 March 2026, the constitution was revised. References to unification were deleted, a territorial clause was added for the first time, and Kim, as President of the State Affairs Commission, was designated head of state. In his speech to the assembly he described South Korea as the “most hostile state.”

South Korean intelligence assessed in May 2026 that the changes were an attempt to manage the existing situation, while other analysts see in them the lasting institutionalization of the division.

The Ninth Congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea

From 19 to 25 February 2026, the Ninth Congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea, convened once every five years, was held in Pyongyang. In his opening speech, Kim promised to raise living standards and speed up economic construction. On 22 February he was re-elected General Secretary, unanimously, according to the North Korean state news agency.

The congress confirmed the policy of building up nuclear and conventional forces at the same time. It ended with a military parade on 25 February, at which his daughter was among those present, and the media also reported the promotion of his sister Kim Yo Jong.

Personal Life

Kim Jong Un’s wife is Ri Sol Ju (Korean: 리설주). According to sources, they married around 2009, but the marriage was publicly confirmed only in July 2012, when state media announced her status. Since 2018 she has appeared publicly in the role of first lady, although she is rarely seen.

Intelligence sources largely agree that the couple has three children, but only their daughter Kim Ju Ae has been publicly confirmed, born around 2012 or 2013. The American basketball player Dennis Rodman was the first to speak publicly about her existence after a 2013 visit, and North Korean media showed her in November 2022. South Korean services believe there is also an older son, who has never been shown in public.

South Korea’s National Intelligence Service said on 12 February 2026 that Kim Ju Ae had entered the stage of “successor designation,” and on 6 April of the same year that it is reasonable to regard her as the successor. The service assesses that her appearances at military events are meant to reduce doubts about the possibility of a female leader. North Korean authorities themselves have never confirmed such a decision.

His sister Kim Yo Jong is an influential figure in his circle, while his older brother Kim Jong Chol stays out of the public eye.

Interesting Facts

• His name, “Jong Un,” according to some sources means “righteous cloud.”
• He is known as a basketball fan, and it is said he is fascinated by the NBA and Michael Jordan. Dennis Rodman visited North Korea in 2013.
• According to a February 2018 Reuters report, he and his father used forged passports, reportedly of Brazilian origin, to apply for visas.
• He is the first North Korean leader born after the founding of the state in 1948.
• He traveled to Beijing and Russia aboard a special armored train.
• In September 2025, in Beijing, he appeared at the same event as Xi Jinping and Putin for the first time.

Titles, Offices and Military Rank

Kim Jong Un holds several of the highest offices in the party, the state and the military, and North Korean media most often call him “Respected Comrade” or “Marshal.” His main offices are:

• General Secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea (since 10 January 2021; previously First Secretary 2012–2016, then Chairman 2016–2021);
• President of the State Affairs Commission (since 29 June 2016), who under the revised 2026 constitution is the head of state;
• Supreme Commander of the armed forces (since 30 December 2011);
• Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers’ Party of Korea (since 11 April 2012);
• Marshal (the highest military rank, since July 2012).

Influence and Significance

Kim Jong Un has kept the Kim family’s dynastic rule going into a third generation. His influence is seen most in turning North Korea into a state that openly declares itself a nuclear power, a status written into the constitution as irreversible in 2026.

His rule follows the same personality cult as that of his father and grandfather, and the regime is the target of accusations of human rights violations. At the 2021 congress, Kim admitted there had been mistakes in almost all areas of economic development, while in 2026 he again stressed the task of raising living standards.

The question of the successor remains open. South Korean intelligence sees his daughter Kim Ju Ae as a possible successor, but experts warn that the future of that scenario is hard to predict.