Kim Jong Un has not been seen publicly in the last 15 days since he attended a major party meeting on April 11. Here are the five things - from Paektu bloodline to the 2014 assassination attempt - you need to know about North Korea’s supreme leader.
The Kim dynasty has ruled North Korea since it was founded in 1948. Kim is a third-generation hereditary leader who assumed power after his father Kim Jong Il passed away from a heart attack in 2011. It is said that Kim and his ancestors have Paektu bloodline, which is named after the highest peak on the Korean Peninsula-- Mount Paekdu--where Kim’s late father and former leader Kim Jong-il was born. It is also said that those with the Paektu bloodline and its direct descendants have the right to rule the country. Kim Jong Il was groomed for close to 20 years as North Korea’s perspective ruler, while Kim Jong Un had to suddenly take over the reins due to his father’s sudden death.
Likely Successor
Kim’s sister Kim Yo-jong is widely seen as a likely successor if Kim dies before his eldest child is ready to take over. Some commentators familiar with the pecking order inside the Kim dynasty say that Kim Yo-jong, the youngest daughter of Kim Jong-il, has the strongest claim to the leadership position by her bloodline and also because of her experience in politics. She is an alternate member of the Politburo and vice director of the Propaganda and Agitation Department of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK).
She’s believed to be in her 30s and a few years younger than her 36-year-old brother. She has maintained a relatively low profile and was noticed last month when she hit out at South Korea, comparing the rival nation with a “frightened dog barking” after it protested a military exercise conducted by the north. She is said to well-versed in the art of running the North Korean propaganda machinery. She was blacklisted by the US Treasury Department in 2017.
Health
Kim Jong Un has not been seen publicly in the last 15 days since he attended a major party meeting on April 11. Some reports suggest he underwent cardiovascular surgery due to health issues triggered by heavy smoking and weight gain. There’s also a family history of cardiovascular problems which has made matters worse. This would not be Kim’s first ‘health-related’ disappearance.
In 2014, he was unseen for over a month- 40 days to be exact-- before he re-emerged, walking with a limp and using a cane. It was said that he was tending to an ankle problem.
Given the nature of their dynastic rule great secrecy is maintained around health issues of the first family. Kim’s father, Kim Jong-il, had also vanished for months in the year 2008 due to a heart stroke which was confirmed only later by a French doctor. The supreme leader died three years later.
Early Life
He is widely believed to have studied in the West during his school days. By most accounts, he was a shy boy who loved basketball and spent several hours sketching Michael Jordan, who used to play for Chicago Bulls, said The Washington Post. He was also fond of computer games and liked to watch Jackie Chan action movies. There is also a wide agreement that Kim went to Kim Il-sung University as youth between 2002 and 2007. The university is a leading officer-training school in Pyongyang. Kim is said to have obtained two degrees, one in physics and another as an Army officer from the Kim Il-sung Military University.
Political Killings
Reports allege Kim’s role in purging several political leaders including his uncle after he assumed power in 2011 to consolidate it by eliminating all threats. Jang Song-thaek, Kim’s uncle was executed for alleged treachery. Kim was also widely blamed for the murder of his half-brother Kim Jong-Nam in Malaysia in February 2017. However, it couldn’t be proved conclusively. Kim Jong Un’s uncle Jang Song-thaek was arrested in December 2013 and executed soon after by a firing squad. Kim is believed to have put to death all members of his uncle’s family, including the children and grandchildren of all close relatives. Jang’s sister Jang Kye-sun, her husband and ambassador to Cuba, Jon Yong-jin, and Jang’s nephew and ambassador to Malaysia, Jang Yong-chol, are all believed to have been executed on Kim’s orders.
In another incident of a political purge to safeguard power, deputy security minister O Sang-hon was allegedly eliminated using a flamethrower in 2014 for his role in supporting Kim Jong Un’s uncle Jang Song-take
Assassination Attempt
2014 was a difficult year for Kim as news of an assassination attempt surfaced while he was busy consolidating power by purging his uncle’s loyalists. It was revealed that year that an assassination attempt had been made on the young leader in 2012, when a machine gun was discovered under a juniper tree in Ryugyeongwon, near a route that Kim was taking.
Three years ago, in May 2017, Kim’s government accused the American spy agency, the CIA and the South Korean intelligence service, the National Intelligence Service (NIS) to have hired a North Korean lumberjack to assassinate Kim. It was alleged that this was to be achieved using a “biochemical weapon” that was not only radioactive but also was nano-poisonous. The effect of the poison would have only appeared a few months later.
