Top 101 World Leaders by Britannica Educational Publishing

Author:Britannica Educational Publishing
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-62275-125-9
Publisher: Britannica Educational Publishing
Published: 2014-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

KIM JONG-EUN

(b. 1983?– )

The death of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in 2011 brought his youngest son, Kim Jong-Eun, to power. He represented the third generation of the Kim dynasty, which has ruled North Korea since its creation in 1948.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Eun waving to the crowd during a 2012 military parade honoring his grandfather Kim Il-Sung. Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images

Kim Jong-Eun (also spelled Kim Jong Un) was born in North Korea in about 1983. He had lived most of his life out of the public eye, and little was known about him. Reportedly educated in Gümligen, Switzerland, at the International School of Berne, he went on to study at Kim Il-Sung National War College in Pyongyang from 2002 to 2007. As a young adult, Kim Jong-Eun began accompanying his father on military inspections.

Rumors began to circulate early in 2009 that he was being groomed as his father’s eventual successor. He was listed as a candidate for the legislature, the Supreme People’s Assembly, in 2009. That April he was given a post on the powerful National Defense Commission (NDC); the chairmanship of the NDC, defined in the constitution as the country’s highest office, was held by Kim Jong Il. By mid-2009 Kim Jong-Eun was being referred to within the country by the title “Brilliant Comrade,” and in June it was reported that he had been named head of the State Security Department, the government agency responsible for political control and counterintelligence.

In September 2010 Kim Jong-Eun was given the high rank of four-star general, even though he was not known to have had any previous military experience. The timing of his appointment was considered significant, as it came shortly before the first general meeting of the Korean Workers’ Party since the session in 1980 at which his father had been named Kim Il-Sung’s successor. Over the next year his position as successor appeared to become more solidified. After the death of his father in December 2011, Kim Jong-Eun was declared the country’s “supreme leader,” an unofficial title that nonetheless signaled his position as the head of both the government and North Korea’s military.

In late 2013, it was widely reported that Kim Jong-Eun had initiated purges of high-ranking North Korean officials, including many of his father’s close advisers. Most prominent among those purged was the leader’s uncle, Jang Song-Thaek, who was executed.

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