Kim Jong Un

Kim Jong Un married Ri Sol Ju around 2009. Unlike the spouses of previous North Korean leaders who were kept strictly out of the public eye, Ri has accompanied her husband to numerous state functions, musical performances, and diplomatic events, marking a shift in public protocol for the regime.

Intelligence assessments and public appearances indicate that the couple has children, including a daughter widely identified as Kim Ju Ae, who was born around 2012 or 2013. In November 2022, Kim Ju Ae made her first public appearance at an intercontinental ballistic missile launch. She has since frequently appeared alongside her father at military parades, state ceremonies, and foreign visits, leading South Korean intelligence officials to evaluate her as a potential heir apparent. Kim is also believed to have other children who have not appeared in public.

Kim was born in Pyongyang, North Korea, as the youngest son of Kim Jong Il and Ko Young Hee, an opera singer. During his youth, he lived largely out of the public eye. In the late 1990s, he attended the International School of Berne in Gümligen, Switzerland, where he studied under the pseudonym Pak-un and was presented as the child of a North Korean embassy driver. During his time in Europe, he developed an interest in sports such as basketball and football.

Kim returned to North Korea around 2000 and continued his education in Pyongyang, attending the Kim Il-Sung National War College from 2002 to 2007. As a young adult, he began accompanying his father on military inspections, gradually entering the state apparatus through roles linked to the Korean Workers' Party and the army's General Political Bureau.

Preparations for Kim's succession became visible in 2009 when he was listed as a candidate for the Supreme People's Assembly and appointed to the National Defense Commission. State media began referring to him by the moniker "Brilliant Comrade," and in September 2010 he was promoted to the rank of four-star general and appointed vice chair of the party's Central Military Commission.

Following the death of Kim Jong Il in December 2011, Kim was declared the supreme leader of North Korea. Over the following months, he assumed the formal roles of first secretary of the Korean Workers' Party and chairman of the Central Military Commission. In 2012, he was promoted to the rank of wonsu (marshal), and in 2016 he became head of the newly created State Affairs Commission. Early in his tenure, Kim moved swiftly to consolidate authority through extensive purges of senior officials inherited from his father's administration, including the December 2013 arrest and execution of his uncle Jang Song Thaek.

Under Kim's leadership, North Korea adopted the national strategy of byungjin (parallel development), aiming to advance the domestic economy simultaneously with the country's defense capabilities. Under this doctrine, the pace of underground nuclear detonations and ballistic missile tests accelerated substantially compared to previous administrations.

Between 2013 and 2017, the regime carried out multiple underground nuclear tests and developed increasingly advanced intercontinental ballistic missiles, including the Hwasong-15. In September 2022, Kim formally declared North Korea a nuclear weapons state, passing domestic legislation outlining conditions for nuclear weapon deployment. The accelerated testing and uranium enrichment activities drew sustained sanctions and condemnation from the United Nations Security Council.

In 2018, Kim initiated major diplomatic overtures, beginning with North Korea's participation in the Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, where his younger sister, Kim Yo Jong, attended as an envoy. On April 27, 2018, Kim met South Korean President Moon Jae-in at Panmunjom, crossing the border into South Korea for the first time in North Korean history and signing the Panmunjom Declaration.

Kim participated in historic summits with United States President Donald Trump, beginning with a June 2018 meeting in Singapore that marked the first direct summit between sitting leaders of both nations. The two met again in Hanoi in February 2019 and at the Demilitarized Zone in June 2019. In addition to talks with the United States and South Korea, Kim strengthened bilateral ties with Russia and China, meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping and holding summits with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Vladivostok in 2019 and during subsequent state visits.