North Korea leader Kim Jong Un’s absence from his country’s political scene recently fueled speculation and rumors about his health in the Western media.
There was speculation about Kim’s health, after his absence from the ceremony marking the birthday of his grandfather, Kim Il Sung. North Korea’s founder on April 15.
The last time North Korea’s official media spoke about the location of its leader, when it reported about it as it chaired a meeting on April 11,
On Sunday morning, North Korea’s official radio reported that leader Kim Jong Un thanked Korean workers and employees for the first sign of his regular activity after rumors of his illness and death.
Here are 10 unknown things about the leader of the third generation of North Korea, according to US News:
1. There is some debate about the age of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, in 2016 the US Department of the Treasury listed his birth date on January 8, 1984, while other sources indicate that he was born on that day but in 1983. And his mother is Ko Yonghui, and of course, his father is Kim Jong Il, the former leader of North Korea, who ruled from 1994 until he died in 2011.
2. The third and youngest son: The leader of North Korea’s second generation, i.e. Kim Jong Il, had 7 sons, 3 daughters and 3 sons, and Kim Jong Un, who was the third and youngest son of Jong Il of his wife Ko Young Hwi.
3. Kim Jong Nam, the older half-brother, was the luckiest leader to have succeeded his father, but his luck soon fell after he was reported to have been arrested in Japan in 2001 when he intended to visit Disneyland in Tokyo, on charges of Carrying false passports.
On February 13, 2017, Kim Jong Nam was subjected to liquidation by poisoning him at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia.
4. Kim Jong-un joined the Leipfield-Steinhotsleigh School, a Swiss government school in Bern in 1998, as a teenager for two years, as reports indicate that he joined the school under a pseudonym, “Back On.”.
It was reported that he had lived in Switzerland from an earlier time, but that it remained within the framework of speculation and unconfirmed reports, but he was presumed to have returned to Pyongyang when he suddenly left school when he was seventeen years old.
5. While in school in Switzerland, he did not achieve positive or good results in natural science subjects, but he did well in music and technical studies.
6. He is said to love cheese and heavy smoking, likely leading to his health problems and being overweight.
7. He has a passion for American basketball, and when he was younger, he was a fan of Michael Jordan, and Kim has had a close friendship with retired NBA player Dennis Rodman, who visited him in North Korea on several occasions.
8. He holds two university degrees, one in physics from Kim Il-sung University, and the other as an army officer he obtained from Kim Il-sung Military College.
9. He married Rey Seul Jo In 2009, and in 2012 the couple had a daughter named Joe A.
10. It is reported that, since he took power in 2011, more than 300 people, including more than 140 senior officials, were executed, and his uncle Jang Song Thaik had been arrested and executed for treason in 2013.