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Search Interest Spikes
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un became a rapidly rising search term Tuesday as news reports focused on his health, relations with the United States and possible military responses. The specific event driving the surge in searches was not immediately clear.
Kim, born Jan. 8, 1984, is North Korea’s supreme leader and holds the country’s most powerful party, state and military positions. He is the second son of former leader Kim Jong Il and Ko Yong Hui.
Rise to Power
Kim emerged publicly as his father’s chosen successor in the late 2000s. His position became official in 2010, when he was appointed vice chairman of the ruling Workers’ Party’s Central Military Commission and named to the party’s Central Committee.
After Kim Jong Il died on Dec. 17, 2011, Kim Jong Un assumed leadership responsibilities and was named supreme commander of the Korean People’s Army later that month. He continued consolidating power through a series of senior appointments, becoming the party’s first secretary and the top official of the National Defense Commission in 2012. He was promoted to marshal that July.
In 2016, Kim became chairman of the Workers’ Party. He also became chairman of the newly created State Affairs Commission after the National Defense Commission was abolished. In January 2021, the party elevated him to general secretary, the title he holds today.
Family and Schooling Abroad
Kim has an older brother, Kim Jong Chol, and a younger sister, Kim Yo Jong, who has become a prominent figure in the North Korean government. He also has several half-siblings, including Kim Jong Nam, who was his older half-brother.
Accounts differ over Kim’s birthplace, with reports pointing to either Changsong County in North Pyongan province or a residence used by his father in the eastern coastal city of Wonsan. His birth year was also disputed for years, but South Korea’s Unification Ministry and National Intelligence Service concluded from records including a passport used during his studies abroad that he was born in 1984.
Kim spent part of his childhood studying in Europe, including Switzerland. He attended a public school near Bern under the alias Pak Un, according to school records, and received additional German-language instruction. He entered the seventh grade in 1998 and left school in late 2000. South Koreans once knew him as Kim Jong Un with a different Korean character for the final syllable, but North Korean state reporting clarified the spelling of his name in 2009.
Military Record and Disputed Role in 2010 Attack
According to the account, Kim entered the Korean People’s Army as a junior enlisted soldier in 2004 at his father’s urging, served for 18 months and was later promoted to lieutenant general. Kim Jong Il reportedly appointed him to lead the state security apparatus around March or April 2009, helping position him to control the country’s political elite.
Kim’s role in North Korea’s November 2010 shelling of South Korea’s Yeonpyeong Island remains the subject of competing claims. Japan’s Asahi Shimbun reported at the time, citing a North Korean source, that an order issued in Kim’s name had directed military officials to prepare to retaliate against any enemy provocation.
A group called the Investigative Commission on Crimes Against Humanity accused Kim and his father of war crimes over the attack and filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court. North Korea maintained that the shelling was a legitimate military response. Kim later reportedly awarded the title of Hero of the Republic to five North Korean soldiers who died.
Relations With the United States and South Korea
Kim has held two summit meetings each with the leaders of the United States and South Korea. Those encounters placed him at the center of diplomacy over North Korea’s relationship with Washington and Seoul, making shifts in his health, military posture or political standing closely watched beyond the Korean Peninsula.
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