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What Do We Know About Kim Jong-Un?

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What do we know about Kim Jong-un, the youngest son and presumed successor to recently deceased former dictator Kim Jong-il? The answer is, well, “not much,” both because North Korea hasn’t released much information about the young man — who is, tellingly, believed to be somewhere between 27 and 29 — and because the information the country has officially released can’t always be trusted. If any particular detail seems too charming, funny, whimsical or endearing… then it’s probably just too good to be true. That said, the current portrait being painted of Kim — whether it be hyper-realistic or something just shy of surrealism — will follow him as be steps increasingly into the national spotlight.

Here, then, are some things that we know about Kim Jong-un:

RELATED: North Korean Leader Kim Jong-il Is Dead According To State Television

  • The third and youngest son of Kim Jong-il, Kim Jong-un has been groomed for succession by the Korean Workers Party ever since his father suffered a stroke in the summer of 2008. That same year, he was put in charge of North Korea’s police and intelligence service.
  • After news broke of his father’s death, Kim Jong-un was announced as the nation’s “Great Successor” via state television.
  • Some analysts, however, believe that Jong-un’s uncle, Chang Sung-taek, will act as regent since Kim presently lacks the experience to lead North Korea right away.
  • Matriculating under a pseudonym, Kim Jong-un attended the English-language International School of Berne, Switzerland.
  • He is also said to have studied computer science in Korea.
  • He’s a big fan of basketball in general, and of Michael Jordan in particular. Or, at any rate, that’s the rumor being floated around. As a Time profile on Kim Jong-un notes, it remains unclear if “that is actually true or just a cute biographical detail invented by North Korean propagandists.”
  • Described as having been his father’s favorite, Kim’s favor was further cemented after his older half-brother, Kim Jong Nam, turned up in Japan in 2001 using a fake passport and asking to visit Tokyo’s Disneyland.
  • For many years, the only confirmed picture of Kim was one taken when he was 11 years old. His first official, confirmed picture as an adult was released on September 30th, 2010
  • According to Kim Jong-il’s former personal chef, Kenji Fujimoto, Kim was also preferred over his elder brother, Kim Jong-chul because Jong-chul “is too feminine in character, whereas Jong-un is “exactly like his father.” In addition, Jong-un was described by Fujimoto as being “a big drinker” who “never admits defeat.”
  • Some reports say Kim is a diabetic and suffers from hypertension.
  • Below, check out an Al-Jazeera report on Kim, including footage of him as a teen studying abroad:

    h/t Time, Wikipedia

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    • Gloves A. Donahue

      What Do We Know About Kim Jong-Un?

      Word on the street is that he currently plays the lead in North Korea TV’s most popular show, the remake of Leave it to Beaver.

    • Anonymous

      We know he’s a fat pig.

    • Pablo

      FWIW: http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2009/07/17/2009071700693.html

      In class, Pak Un was generally shy and awkward with girls, but he became
      a different person on basketball court, according to his classmates. “A
      fiercely competitive player,” said classmate Nikola Kovacevic. “He was
      very explosive. He could make things happen. He was the playmaker.”

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Bee-Ruled/100001985815996 Bee Ruled

      Will Un, like his father, give into the sexual advances of Madeline Albright?

    • Anonymous

      A big drinker that never admits defeat in charge of a massive Army armed with nuclear weapon; what could possibly go wrong?

      If I were a resident of Seoul, I might start looking into bomb shelters.

    • Anonymous

      Or Hillary……

    • Robert Shlumboski

      We should know he is a puppet with a god complex.  A genetic miscreant, and quite possibly the goon to bring on the big boom.  And since we don’t have the capacity to whip their (NK) one million zombie army, and China’s 10 million strong zombie army, do you really see any alternative?
      Don’t like that liberal snot Bob Dylan, but he may have it right:

      A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall
      Oh, where have you been, my blue-eyed son?
      Oh, where have you been, my darling young one?
      I’ve stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains
      I’ve walked and I’ve crawled on six crooked highways
      I’ve stepped in the middle of seven sad forests
      I’ve been out in front of a dozen dead oceans
      I’ve been ten thousand miles in the mouth of a graveyard
      And it’s a hard, and it’s a hard, it’s a hard, and it’s a hard
      And it’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fallOh, what did you see, my blue-eyed son?
      Oh, what did you see, my darling young one?
      I saw a newborn baby with wild wolves all around it
      I saw a highway of diamonds with nobody on it
      I saw a black branch with blood that kept drippin’
      I saw a room full of men with their hammers a-bleedin’
      I saw a white ladder all covered with water
      I saw ten thousand talkers whose tongues were all broken
      I saw guns and sharp swords in the hands of young children
      And it’s a hard, and it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard
      And it’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fallAnd what did you hear, my blue-eyed son?
      And what did you hear, my darling young one?
      I heard the sound of a thunder, it roared out a warnin’
      Heard the roar of a wave that could drown the whole world
      Heard one hundred drummers whose hands were a-blazin’
      Heard ten thousand whisperin’ and nobody listenin’
      Heard one person starve, I heard many people laughin’
      Heard the song of a poet who died in the gutter
      Heard the sound of a clown who cried in the alley
      And it’s a hard, and it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard
      And it’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fallOh, who did you meet, my blue-eyed son?
      Who did you meet, my darling young one?
      I met a young child beside a dead pony
      I met a white man who walked a black dog
      I met a young woman whose body was burning
      I met a young girl, she gave me a rainbow
      I met one man who was wounded in love
      I met another man who was wounded with hatred
      And it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard
      It’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fallOh, what’ll you do now, my blue-eyed son?Oh, what’ll you do now, my darling young one?I’m a-goin’ back out ’fore the rain starts a-fallin’I’ll walk to the depths of the deepest black forestWhere the people are many and their hands are all emptyWhere the pellets of poison are flooding their watersWhere the home in the valley meets the damp dirty prisonWhere the executioner’s face is always well hiddenWhere hunger is ugly, where souls are forgottenWhere black is the color, where none is the numberAnd I’ll tell it and think it and speak it and breathe itAnd reflect it from the mountain so all souls can see itThen I’ll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin’But I’ll know my song well before I start singin’And it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hardIt’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall

    • http://gregingleright.weebly.com/ Greg

      We know that, if given the chance, he would shoot out to a polling lead on Williard Mitt Romney in Iowa.  This on the appeal of a synthetic plan to call members of the judiciary in front of executive tribunals, ban the legislature from the federal capital all but 150 days a year, eliminate spending on poverty relief while rejecting all cuts to military spending.  

    • Anonymous

      Whatever his proclivities with regard to booze, Kim Jong-Un’s favorite soft drink is Seven Up…aka the UN-cola.

    • Anonymous

      What the hell is it with the North Koreans and earth-tone leisure suits?

    • Anonymous

      Wel he is a fat little +uck with a really bad haircut.

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