Kim Jong Un
Kim Jong Un spent years as a face the outside world could not quite place. For a long time, only one confirmed photograph of him existed beyond North Korea's borders. It showed a boy of about eleven, snapped in the mid-1990s. Other supposed images of him surfaced now and then, and almost all of them were disputed.
That boy now holds the top offices of the party and the army in North Korea. He is the third member of the Kim family to run the country his grandfather Kim Il Sung founded.
The documentary that follows starts with a simple puzzle. How did a teenager in a European school, drawing basketball stars in pencil, end up in command of a state with nuclear weapons? Then come larger questions. What does he want from his missiles, his neighbours and his new friends in Moscow? And how much of what the world says about him can anyone actually verify?
North Korean state media say Kim Jong Un was born on the 8th of January 1982. South Korean intelligence officials believe the real date came a year later, in 1983. The United States lists 1984, based on the passport he used while studying in Switzerland. His aunt Ko Yong Suk, who defected to the United States in 1998, also gave 1984. She said he was the same age as her own son, his childhood playmate. Many observers think the official year was shifted for symbolism. 1982 marked the seventieth birthday of Kim Il Sung and forty years since the official birth of Kim Jong Il.
He was the second of three children born to Kim Jong Il and Ko Yong Hui. His elder brother, Kim Jong Chul, was born on the 25th of September 1981. His younger sister, Kim Yo Jong, is believed to have been born in 1987. He is also the first North Korean leader born as a North Korean citizen. His father was born in the Soviet Union, and his grandfather was born under Japanese colonial rule.
Early reports said a boy named "Chol-pak" or "Pak-chol" attended the International School of Berne in Gümligen from 1993 to 1998. In April 2012, newly surfaced documents suggested he had lived in Switzerland since 1991 or 1992. Then the Swiss town of Köniz confirmed a North Korean student at the Liebefeld-Steinhölzli public school from August 1998 until the autumn of 2000. Councilor Ueli Studer spoke for the school board. The boy was registered as "Pak-un", son of an employee at the North Korean embassy in Bern. He began in a special class for children who spoke other languages, then joined regular classes. He left abruptly in the autumn of 2000.
Former headmaster Peter Burri remembered a teenager who was "well-integrated, hardworking, and ambitious". Yet the grades and attendance records were reportedly poor. The North Korean ambassador to Switzerland, Ri Chol, acted as his mentor. An older student, thought to be a bodyguard, chaperoned him.
In 2012, the Laboratory of Anthropology and Anatomy at the University of Lyon compared a recent photograph of Kim with a school picture from 1999. Its facial comparison produced a 95% match, and the forensic anthropologists said they were convinced both photos showed the same person.
Classmates described a shy boy, awkward around girls and indifferent to politics. He stood out in sports and was fascinated by the American basketball league and by Michael Jordan. The Washington Post reported in 2009 that friends recalled hours of meticulous pencil drawings of the Chicago Bulls star. He also loved computer games and Jackie Chan action movies. One classmate said Kim had told him he was the son of North Korea's leader. His elder brother Kim Jong Chul attended the school too.
Most analysts agree he studied at Kim Il Sung University in Pyongyang from 2002 to 2007. He earned two degrees there. One was in physics, and the other was an army officer's qualification from the Kim Il Sung Military University.
In late February 2018, Reuters reported on a pair of forged Brazilian passports dated the 26th of February 1996. One carried the name "Josef Pwag" and a birth date of the 1st of February 1983, and both bore a stamp from the Embassy of Brazil in Prague.
Kim Jong Nam, the eldest half-brother, was once the favourite to inherit power. He reportedly lost standing in 2001 after being caught trying to enter Japan on a fake passport. His aim had been a visit to Tokyo Disneyland.
Kenji Fujimoto, Kim Jong Il's former personal chef, offered an insider's view of the choice. He said the father preferred Jong Un to Jong Chul, whom he judged too feminine in character. Jong Un, he said, was "exactly like his father". Fujimoto also said, "He has superb physical gifts, is a big drinker and never admits defeat." He recalled a moment when an eighteen-year-old Jong Un, in the middle of basketball, horseback riding and jet skis, asked what life was like for ordinary people.
On the 15th of January 2009, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported that Kim Jong Il had named Jong Un his successor. Foreign diplomats came to the same understanding that year. Embassy staff abroad were reportedly asked to pledge loyalty to the son. A new song of praise was said to be circulating, and he was called "Brilliant Comrade". A report of a secret trip to China to present himself to its leaders was strongly denied by the Chinese foreign ministry. Some people believe he was tied to the Cheonan sinking and the shelling of Yeonpyeong, as a way to build military credentials.
On the 27th of September 2010, Kim was made a daejang, the equivalent of a four-star general. He had no previous military experience. The promotion came a day before a rare party conference and was the first time North Korean media named him. The next day, he became vice chairman of the Central Military Commission and joined the party's Central Committee. On the 30th of September, a group photograph from the conference gave the world its first official image of him as an adult. He sat in the front row, two places from his father. On the 10th of October 2010, he stood beside his father at the party's 65th anniversary celebration, which came with unprecedented international press access.
In January 2011, the government reportedly purged around 200 protégés of two men who might have rivalled him. They were Jang Song Thaek, the uncle-in-law, and O Kuk Ryol of the National Defence Commission.
In July 2012, he became a marshal, the highest active military rank. Only the title of Taewonsu ranked higher. His grandfather held it, and his father was awarded it after death in February 2012. The promotion arrived days after Chief of General Staff Ri Yong Ho was replaced by Hyon Yong Chol.
On the 9th of March 2014, he won a seat in the Supreme People's Assembly. He ran unopposed, and officials reported a record turnout with every vote in his symbolic home district of Mount Paektu cast as "yes".
In May 2016, Kim convened the 7th Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea, the first since 1980. His title of First Secretary became Chairman, a title his grandfather held from 1949 to 1966. In June 2016, the Supreme People's Assembly amended the constitution. It abolished the National Defence Commission except in wartime and replaced it with the State Affairs Commission, which had more civilians and fewer military members. Kim became its chairman on the 29th of June 2016.
The 2019 parliamentary election made him the first North Korean leader not to stand as a candidate. The constitution was amended that year as well. References to Juche and Songun gave way to Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism. The armed forces were charged to "defend unto death the Party Central Committee headed by the great Comrade Kim Jong Un". That wording made him the first leader named in the constitution while in power. The State Affairs chairman also became the "supreme leader who represents the state", so Kim was head of state both on paper and in practice.
In January 2021, the 8th Party Congress gave him a nine-hour report to deliver. He admitted failures in the economic plan and scolded officials. He also praised the nuclear capability and named the United States the country's main enemy. His title became General Secretary. The backdrop omitted the portraits of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il that normally hang there, a possible signal that he wanted his own mark on politics.
The numbers showed the army's loss. Military delegates fell from 719 at the previous congress to 408. Military elite among Politburo members dropped from eight to six. The army's party committee was ranked level with provincial committees instead of above them. "Military-first policy" left the charter and "people-first politics" replaced it.
Renaming followed. In January 2021, the Ministry of People's Armed Forces became the Ministry of Defence. From February 2021, English-language state media began calling Kim "President of the State Affairs". Yonhap read this as an effort to look like a "normal state". In November 2021, South Korea's intelligence service reported that North Korea had started using the term Kimjongunism. Analyst Ken Gause said Kim was "now ready to put his stamp firmly on the regime".
Still, analysts disagree about how much power he truly holds. Early on, some expected Jang Song Thaek to act as regent for an inexperienced young leader. Jang's fate arrived in December 2013.
On the 31st of March 2013, at a plenary meeting of the Central Committee, Kim announced "a new strategic line on carrying out economic construction and building nuclear armed forces simultaneously". The approach is called byungjin. It echoes a policy from the 1960s under his grandfather.
The economic half began that year with the "Socialist Corporate Responsible Management System". It gave enterprises more freedom to do business on their own. In agriculture, the pojon vegetable garden responsibility system reportedly raised output on some collective farms. State media described a "flexible collectivist system". The so-called "May 30th measures" aimed to raise living standards, put more domestic goods on markets, bring defence innovations to civilian use and boost trade.
Pyongyang changed visibly. Earlier building had focused on monuments. Under Kim, the city gained amusement parks, aquatic parks, skating rinks, a dolphinarium and a ski resort. His government promoted entertainment and cosmetics. It also built tourist attractions. Food shortages remained a problem, and the situation deteriorated during the COVID-19 pandemic. In March 2023, a party plenary session called for farms to focus on raising yields.
The other half of byungjin was measured in tests. North Korea tested nuclear devices in February 2013, in January and September 2016, and in September 2017. By 2021, it had carried out nearly 120 missile tests under Kim, against roughly 33 under his father and grandfather combined. By 2023, the total had reached 226. A 2022 estimate put the arsenal at around 45-55 nuclear weapons.
On the 2nd of January 2017, Kim said the country was in the "last stage" of preparing to test an intercontinental ballistic missile. On the 4th of July, it launched the Hwasong-14, in a flight timed to coincide with American Independence Day. The sixth nuclear test followed on the 3rd of September. On the 28th of November, the Hwasong-15 flew. It was the first North Korean missile theoretically able to reach the entire US mainland. The United Nations Security Council answered with a series of sanctions.
His statements on use have shifted. In 2016, at the 7th Party Congress, Kim said North Korea would not use nuclear weapons first unless hostile forces used them against its sovereignty. Yet the country has also threatened pre-emptive attacks. A RAND Corporation researcher says Kim sees the weapons as the guarantee of his state's survival.
A law approved in 2022 went further. It says that an attack on the top leadership or on the nuclear command system would trigger automatic nuclear strikes. If Kim were killed, the authority to order strikes would pass to a senior official.
Reports from inside North Korea are hard to verify, and a few high-profile stories collapsed. A 2013 claim that Kim had executed his ex-girlfriend, the singer Hyon Song Wol, for violating pornography laws turned out to be false. In May 2016, analysts found General Ri Yong Gil alive, though South Korea had said he had been executed earlier that year.
One case is better documented. Kim's uncle Jang Song Thaek was arrested in December 2013 and executed for treachery on the 12th of December. He is believed to have faced a firing squad. At his removal, officials said the "discovery and purge of the Jang group" had made party ranks "purer". Yonhap, citing several unnamed sources, reported that Jang's relatives were killed too. It named his sister Jang Kye Sun, her husband Jon Yong Jin, ambassador to Cuba, and nephew Jang Yong Chol, ambassador to Malaysia. The nephew's two sons were also reportedly killed.
In April 2015, the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea and AllSource Analysis studied satellite imagery of the Kanggon military training area, about 13 miles north of Pyongyang. They saw six ZPU-4 anti-aircraft guns near a group of standing figures on or about the 7th of October 2014. They judged a public execution the "most plausible explanation". Adam Taylor of The Washington Post noted that this could not be confirmed.
International bodies pressed the issue. In January 2013, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said conditions had not improved under Kim. A February 2014 commission of inquiry suggested he could "possibly" be held accountable for crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court. In July 2016, the US Treasury imposed personal sanctions on him, although officials said the real targets were his nuclear and missile programs. In June 2017, after the death of American student Otto Warmbier, Donald Trump called him a "madman". In 2019 Trump said he believed Kim was not responsible for Warmbier's death.
The most notorious killing came on the 13th of February 2017. Kim's exiled half-brother, Kim Jong Nam, was attacked with the nerve agent VX in Terminal 2 of Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Kim Jong Un is widely believed to have ordered it.
North Korea has also described plots against Kim. In 2012, a gun was found beneath a juniper tree in Ryugyeongwon near a route he was to travel. In May 2017, Pyongyang accused the CIA and South Korea's intelligence service of hiring a North Korean lumberjack who had worked in Russia. The alleged weapon was a radioactive, "nano-poisonous" agent with a delayed effect of a few months.
On the 24th of February 2017, one month before China's coal ban took full effect in the headlines, no, in February 2017, China banned imports of North Korean coal. Relations had already cooled over the nuclear program. North Korea's news agency answered with unprecedented criticism, accusing Beijing of "big-power chauvinism".
The thaw came in 2018. In his New Year speech, Kim said he was open to talks with South Korea about the Winter Olympics. The hotline between Seoul and Pyongyang reopened after almost two years. The two Koreas marched together at the opening ceremony and fielded a united women's ice hockey team. Kim sent his sister Kim Yo Jong, President of the Presidium Kim Yong Nam and the Samjiyon Orchestra.
In March 2018, Kim travelled to Beijing to meet Xi Jinping, his first foreign trip as leader. Further meetings with Xi followed in Dalian on the 7th and the 8th of May, in Beijing on the 19th and the 20th of June, and in Beijing again on the 7th to the 10th of January 2019. On the 20th and the 21st of June 2019, Xi visited Pyongyang. No Chinese leader had done so since Hu Jintao in 2005.
In April 2018, Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in signed the Panmunjom Declaration. It pledged to turn the armistice into a full peace treaty by the end of the year. On the 12th of June, Kim and Donald Trump met in Singapore. It was the first meeting ever between leaders of North Korea and the United States. They signed a declaration affirming peace, nuclear disarmament and the return of remains of US war dead. In September, Kim hosted Moon in Pyongyang. Kim agreed to dismantle nuclear facilities if the United States took reciprocal steps.
The momentum faded. In February 2019, Trump cut the Hanoi summit short on its second day. The American side said the North wanted full sanctions relief, while the North said it asked only for partial relief. On the 30th of June 2019, the two men met again in the Demilitarized Zone and shook hands. Talks in Stockholm that began on the 5th of October 2019 broke down after a single day. Even so, the pair exchanged at least 27 letters that described a warm friendship.
On the 17th of June 2020, North Korea demolished the four-story joint liaison office it shared with South Korea. In October 2021, Kim said Washington sent signals that it was not hostile, but offered "no single evidence" of this. In December 2023, he called for a "fundamental turnabout" and named the South an enemy. He said reunification could never be achieved with "ROK riffraffs". He also symbolically demolished the Arch of Reunification.
Meanwhile, a different partnership was growing. On the 25th of April 2019, Kim met Vladimir Putin for the first time, in Vladivostok. After Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, North Korea backed it. It recognised the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk and later recognised Russia's annexation of four Ukrainian regions. In September 2023, Kim travelled to the Vostochny Cosmodrome for a meeting that lasted over four hours. Asked whether Russia would help North Korea build satellites, Putin said, "that's why they came here."
South Korea's intelligence service reported in November 2023 that North Korea had sent over one million shells to Russia since August. In February 2024, Kim received a car as a gift from Putin. Four months later Putin came to Pyongyang, and they signed a treaty on comprehensive strategic partnership. In October 2024, North Korean soldiers appeared in Russian uniforms under Russian command. By the end of 2024, the United States and its allies said North Korea had sent 11,000 troops, at least six million heavy artillery rounds and 100 ballistic missiles. In April 2025, Kim publicly acknowledged his troops were fighting beside Russian forces.
On the 2nd of September 2025, Kim rode a special train to Beijing for the 80th anniversary parade of China's Victory Day. It was his first China visit since 2019 and the first multilateral event he had ever attended.
On the 15th of April 2012, at a parade marking the centenary of Kim Il Sung's birth, Kim Jong Un gave his first public speech. It later became the basis of a hymn in his honour. That November, satellite photos showed a half-kilometre message carved into a hillside in Ryanggang Province: "Long Live General Kim Jong Un, the Shining Sun!"
He also broke with his father's habits. In July 2012, he attended a Moranbong Band concert with elements of Western pop culture, and used the occasion to introduce his wife to the public. On the 25th of July 2012, state media reported that he was married to Ri Sol Ju. In 2013, he gave a televised New Year's address in the style of his grandfather. His father never gave one in 17 years of rule. Analysts say Kim has used his resemblance to Kim Il Sung to draw on nostalgia. He hugs people, links arms with them, weeds, rides horses, drives tanks and rides rollercoasters.
He has also allowed unusual admissions. In April 2012, the government publicly admitted a failed satellite launch for the first time. After an apartment building collapsed in Pyongyang in May 2014, the news agency used the rare phrase "profound consolation and apology". An unnamed official told the BBC that Kim "sat up all night, feeling painful".
On the 26th of February 2013, he met the American basketball player Dennis Rodman. Vice correspondent Ryan Duffy found him "socially awkward" and said he avoided eye contact. South Koreans who saw him at the April 2018 summit called him straightforward, humorous and attentive. Trump said, "I learned he was a talented man." Polls offer one measure of his image. In 2013-61.7% of defectors in South Korea said most North Koreans probably supported him. After the May 2018 summit, 78% of South Koreans polled said they trusted Kim, compared with 10% a couple of months earlier. In late 2016, a mocking nickname trended on Chinese websites, and North Korea successfully asked China to censor it.
His body has been a recurring question. In September and October 2014, he vanished from public view for six weeks. State media cited an "uncomfortable physical condition", and he reappeared with a walking stick. In April 2020, a 20-day absence prompted rumours that he was gravely ill or dead. By June 2021, observers noted weight loss of perhaps 10 to 20 kg. A North Korean documentary said his body had "completely withered away" while he suffered for the people. In July 2024, South Korea's spy agency said he had regained weight and suffered obesity-related health problems.
The pandemic pressed on that image. North Korea said it had no COVID-19 cases until May 2022, which several South Korean academics doubted. After announcing an outbreak, Kim ordered every city and county to lock down. State media reported hundreds of thousands of fever cases and 27 related deaths.
In August 2020, Kim reportedly handed his sister Kim Yo Jong responsibility for relations with South Korea and the United States, making her de facto second-in-command. On the 18th of November 2022, state media showed him reviewing missile arsenals beside his daughter Ju Ae. She has accompanied him routinely since. In February 2026, South Korea's intelligence service assessed that Ju Ae, then about 13, was his designated successor, citing her prominence in state media and alleged policy input.
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Updated
Common questions
Which year was Kim Jong Un born?
It is disputed. North Korean state media say the 8th of January 1982. South Korean intelligence officials believe 1983, and the United States lists 1984, based on his Swiss-era passport.
Where did Kim Jong Un go to school?
He attended schools in Switzerland, including a public school in Köniz from 1998 to 2000, and then studied at Kim Il Sung University in Pyongyang from 2002 to 2007.
What is the byungjin policy?
Byungjin means developing the economy and nuclear forces side by side. Kim announced it as a new strategic line on the 31st of March 2013.
Who are the other North Korean leaders in the Kim family?
His grandfather Kim Il Sung founded North Korea in 1948 and led it until 1994. His father Kim Jong Il led the country until his death on the 17th of December 2011.
Has Kim Jong Un met a US president?
Yes. He met Donald Trump in Singapore on the 12th of June 2018, in Hanoi in February 2019, and in the Demilitarized Zone on the 30th of June 2019.
All sources
306 references cited across the entry
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- 104NewsKim Jong-un's latest no-show fuels further health rumours10 October 2014
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- 113NewsNorth Korea Revamps Its ConstitutionIsozaki Atsuhito — 26 August 2019
- 114NewsNorth Korea changes constitution to solidify Kim Jong Un's ruleJosh Smith — 29 August 2019
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- 121The Changing Status and Role of the North Korean MilitaryGee-dong Lee — 3 September 2021
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- 123What's behind the emergence of Kim Jong-un-ism?Da-gyum Ji — 9 November 2021
- 124Pyongyang Warns Again on "Byungjin" RevivalRobert Carlin — 13 November 2018
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- 126North Korea's ICBM Test, Byungjin, and the Economic LogicBenjamin Katzeff Silberstein
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- 128Kim Jong Un Stresses the Principles of Market Economy through 'May 30th Measures'Institute for Far Eastern Studies — 15 January 2015
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- 133NewsNorth Korea's Kim pushes farm reform as food crisis growsKobara Junnosuke — 3 March 2023
- 134NewsDid Kim Jong Un Really Execute His Uncle's Extended Family?Francesca Trianni — 27 January 2014
- 135North Korea: Fake news on both sides is the normFabian Kretschmer — 3 June 2019
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- 139NewsKim Jong Un's executed uncle Jang Song Thaek reappears on N.Korean mediaJH Ahn — 10 August 2016
- 140Jang Sung-taek's remaining family executed by Kim Jong-un27 January 2014
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- 149NewsKim Jong-un placed on sanctions blacklist for the first time by US6 July 2016
- 150U.S. Puts First Sanctions on North Korean Leader Kim Jong UnJay Solomon — 6 July 2016
- 152NewsTrump Faces Fury After Saying He Believes North Korean Leader on Student's DeathJulie Bosman — 1 March 2019
- 153Under the Juniper Tree: The 2012 Assassination Attempt on Kim Jong-un17 November 2014
- 154North Korea claims US 'biochemical' plot to kill Kim Jong UnJames Griffiths — 5 May 2017
- 156North Korea's Military CapabilitiesEleanor Albert — 3 January 2018
- 157The CNS North Korea Missile Test Database16 February 2023
- 158NewsShould we really be so afraid of a nuclear North Korea?Markus Bell et al. — 16 February 2017
- 159NewsNorth Korea's Nuclear Ticket to SurvivalEdward Hunt — Foreign Policy in Focus — 31 October 2017
- 161NewsIs it time to accept North Korea is a nuclear power?Paula Hancocks — 29 October 2022
- 162Report on Plenary Meeting of WPK Central CommitteeKorean Central News Agency — 31 March 2013
- 163Kim Jong-Un claims North Korea has a hydrogen bombFox News Channel — 10 December 2015
- 164Kim Jong Un Says Pyongyang Won't Use Nukes First; Associated PressABC — 7 May 2016
- 165NewsNorth Korea threatens nuclear strike over U.S.-South Korean exercisesCNN — 7 March 2016
- 166NewsUN passes sanctions despite North Korea threat of 'pre-emptive nuclear attack'NBC News — 7 March 2013
- 167NewsKim Jong Un's 2017 New Year's Address (KCNA – speech full text)Jong-Un Kim
- 169North Korea claims successful hydrogen bomb test3 September 2017
- 170NewsNorth Korea tests 'new long-range missile' capable of striking anywhere in US as Donald Trump says he will 'take care of it'Rozina Sabur et al. — 29 November 2017
- 171UN Security Council Resolutions on North KoreaArms Control Association
- 172NewsKim Jong Un's October 10 Speech: More Than MissilesThe Henry L. Stimson Center — 13 October 2020
- 173NewsAnalysis: Kim Jong Un's 'decapitation' fears shine through in new North Korea nuclear lawJosh Smith — 9 September 2022
- 174North Korea declares itself a nuclear weapons state, in 'irreversible' moveYoonjung Seo, Larry Register and Heather Chen — 9 September 2022
- 175Kim Jong-un Gets Letter from China's New LeaderChosun.com — 3 December 2012
- 178World Nations Condemn North Korea for Sixth Nuclear TestEric Talmadge et al. — Chiangrai Times — 3 September 2017
- 179NewsChina suspends North Korean coal imports, striking at regime's financial lifelineSimon Denyer — 18 February 2017
- 180NewsChina to enforce UN sanctions against North Korea23 September 2017
- 181NewsNorth Korean media issues rare criticism of China over nuclear3 May 2017
- 182NewsChinese media "spoiled the atmosphere" of inter-Korean rapprochement: DPRK media8 February 2018
- 185NewsNorth Korea's Kim Jong Un met Xi Jinping on surprise visit to ChinaSteven Jiang et al. — 28 March 2018
- 186NewsKim's Second Surprise Visit to China Heightens Diplomatic DramaJane Perlez — 8 May 2018
- 187NewsNorth Korea's Kim Jong-un in China for two-day trip 'to brief Xi Jinping on Donald Trump summit'Zhenhua Lu et al. — 19 June 2018
- 188Kim's China visit shows Trump he's 'not the only game in town'Alexander Smith — 9 January 2019
- 189North Korea holds mass celebration in Xi's honor amid talks on US tensionsBen Westcott et al. — 21 June 2019
- 190NewsKim Jong Un and Putin top Xi's guest list for China's huge military paradeYong Xiong et al. — August 27, 2025
- 191Xi’s visit to North Korean war monument evokes ‘eternal historical memory’Jiaxuan Cao — 2026-06-09
- 192Developing North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visits Chinese border city of DandongKhushboo Razdan — 2026-10-24
- 193NewsKim Jong-un Makes First Visit to China in Over a YearChoe Sang-Hun — 2026-10-24
- 195North Korea reopens cross-border communication channel with South KoreaHyung-Jin Kim — 3 January 2018
- 196News'Cheer Up!' North Korean Cheerleaders Rally Unified Women's Hockey Team During 8–0 LossSean Gregory — 10 February 2018
- 197NewsDelegation visit shows N. Korea can take "drastic" steps to improve relations: MOUDagyum Ji — NK News — 12 February 2018
- 198Kim Jong-un, a Mystery to the World, Surprises in Diplomatic DebutSang-Hun Choe — 7 March 2018
- 199Kim Jong Un makes historic walk across border to meet South Korea's Moon Jae-inFoster Klug — 27 April 2018
- 200NewsKim Jong-un crosses into South Korea27 April 2018
- 201NewsKoreas make nuclear pledge after summit27 April 2018
- 203North and South Korean leaders hold surprise meetingJungeun Kim et al. — 26 May 2018
- 204NewsTrump upbeat ahead of North Korean summit; Kim visits Singapore sitesSteve Holland et al. — 10 June 2018
- 205Document signed by Trump and Kim includes four main elements related to 'peace regime'Everett Rosenfeld — 12 June 2018
- 206NewsNorth Korea agrees to dismantle nuclear complex if United States takes reciprocal action, South saysABC — 19 September 2018
- 207NewsNorth Korea's foreign minister says country seeks only partial sanctions relief, contradicting TrumpPhilip Rucker et al. — 28 February 2019
- 208Trump sets foot in north korea; Kim visits Freedom House30 June 2019
- 209NewsNorth Korea Says Nuclear Talks Break Down While U.S. Says They Were 'Good'Jari Tanner et al. — Time — 5 October 2019
- 210NewsTranscript: Kim Jong Un's letters to President Trump9 September 2020
- 211News'A magical force': New Trump-Kim letters provide window into their 'special friendship'Jamie Gangel et al. — 9 September 2020
- 212NewsTwo Years After Trump-Kim Meeting, Little to Show for Personal DiplomacyDavid E. Sanger et al. — 12 June 2020
- 213NewsDiplomacy stalled a year after Trump-Kim Summit collapseKelly Kasulis — 20 February 2020
- 214NewsNorth Korea's Kim backs away from Trump relationship two years after historic handshakeAdela Suliman — 12 June 2020
- 215NewsNorth Korea releases photos showing explosion of liaison office jointly run with South KoreaJay Cannon — 17 June 2020
- 216NewsNorth Korea says U.S. attempt to initiate contact is 'cheap trick': KCNAJosh Smith — 18 March 2021
- 217NewsSurrounded by missiles, North Korea's Kim Jong Un blames US for regional instabilityYoonjung Seo et al. — 12 October 2021
- 218NewsFlanked by missiles, North Korea's Kim says U.S. and South Korea threaten peaceJosh Smith et al. — 12 October 2021
- 219NewsNorth Korea says it will no longer seek reunification with South Korea, will launch new spy satellites in 2024Heather Seo — 31 December 2023
- 220NewsWhy North Korea declared unification 'impossible,' abandoning decades-old goalJeongmin Kim — 1 January 2024
- 221NewsReunification with South? No, says North Korea's Kim Jong-un31 December 2023
- 222Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un hold first summitJoshua Berlinger — CNN — 25 April 2019
- 223Kim Jong Un, Vladimir Putin share warm greeting at start of historic summitPatrick Reevell — 25 April 2019
- 224North Korea recognizes breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk in UkraineEthan Jewell et al. — 14 July 2022
- 225NewsNorth Korean-Russian Trade Rebounds, Satellite Images ShowDasl Yoon — 17 February 2023
- 227NewsRussia Is Buying North Korean Artillery, According to U.S. IntelligenceJulian E. Barnes — 6 September 2022
- 229NewsNorth Korea's Kim Meets Russian Defense Minister26 July 2023
- 230NewsKim Jong-un offers Putin 'full support' in Russia's 'sacred fight' with westJustin McCurry et al. — 13 September 2023
- 231North Korea's Kim vows full support for Moscow at a summit with Putin in Russia13 September 2023
- 232NewsNorth Korea believed to have exported over 1 million shells to RussiaYoojung Seo — 1 November 2023
- 233NewsUS Army says it needs $3 billion for 155 mm artillery rounds and productionMike Stone — 7 November 2023
- 234NewsKim Jong-un receives car as gift from Vladimir Putin20 February 2024
- 237NewsHow North Korea WonJung H. Pak — 2026-04-21
- 238North Korea confirms it sent troops to Russia, calling them 'heroes'NBC News — 28 April 2025
- 239NewsCoronavirus in North Korea: Kim Jong-un claims 'shining success'Laura Bicker — BBC — 3 July 2020
- 240NewsKim Jong-un Resurfaces, State Media Says, After Weeks of Health RumorsSang-Hun Choe — 1 May 2020
- 241NewsAmid health rumors, Kim Jong Un absent for two consecutive three-week periodsChad O'Carroll — NK News — 22 May 2020
- 242NewsAmid all-time appearance lows, Kim Jong Un absent for another three-week periodChad O'Carroll — 29 June 2020
- 246NewsN. Korean vows typhoon recoveryHyung-Jin Kim — 7 September 2020
- 247NewsKim Jong Un's body 'withered' as he 'suffered' for the people, state TV saysColin Zwirko — NK News — 1 February 2022
- 248What Is the Truth About COVID-19 in North Korea?Mitch Shin
- 250NewsNorth Korea's Kim says COVID 'great turmoil', 21 new deaths reportedHeekyong Yang et al. — 14 May 2022
- 251NewsNorth Korea Wants to Follow China's Covid 'Success.' Its Plan May Backfire.Sang-Hun Choe — 18 May 2022
- 252NewsNorth Korea discusses revising COVID curbs, outbreak 'improving'Cynthia Kim — 29 May 2022
- 253NewsNorth Korea declares victory over COVID, suggests leader Kim had itHyonhee Shin et al. — 11 August 2022
- 254NewsKim Jong‑un, 'great successor' poised to lead North KoreaJustin McCurry — 19 December 2011
- 258NewsRodman Worms His Way into Kim Jong Un MeetingJoohee Cho — 28 February 2013
- 259'Vice' season finale on HBO gives fresh look at Dennis Rodman's meeting with North Korea's Kim Jong-unJustin Rocket Silverman — 29 May 2013
- 260NewsN.K. leader seen moving toward economic reformSong Sang-ho — 27 June 2012
- 261NewsKim Jong Un uncensored: 7 impressions gleaned from historic summit1 May 2018
- 262NewsFive things President Trump said about Kim Jong Un and North Korea that have critics seethingJaclyn Reiss — 12 June 2018
- 263Kim Jong Un Net Worth: How Is North Korea's Leader Spending His Billions?Villasanta Arthur — 23 May 2019
- 264NewsDennis Rodman: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is a 'good-hearted kid'2 November 2013
- 265Kim Jong-un Has Massively Increased The Import of Luxury Goods into North KoreaAdam Taylor — 5 October 2012
- 266NewsKim Jong-un Inherits Father's Taste for Bling22 August 2012
- 267Here's How North Korea Got Kim Jong Un His New Armored S600 Mercedes Maybach LimosJoseph Trevithick — The Drive — 16 July 2019
- 268Kim Jong-un: North Korea's Kim Anoints Youngest Son As HeirJean H. Lee — 2 June 2009
- 269NewsKim Jong Un caught smoking during anti-smoking driveChieu Luu — CNN
- 270North Korea admits to Kim Jong-un's ill-health for first timeJustin McCurry and Enjoli Liston — 26 September 2014
- 271NewsNorth Korean media report that Kim Jong Un is back at workAnna Fifield — 13 October 2014
- 272NewsNorth Korea says leader has reappearedCNN — 13 October 2014
- 273Kyodo News, "Kim has gained 30 kg, weighs 130 now: Seoul", Japan Times, 28 September 2015, p. 5
- 274NewsKim Jong-un appears in public, North Korean state media report2 May 2020
- 276'Slim' Jong Un? Kim's weight loss raises questions in North Korea and abroadJosh K. Elliott — 28 June 2021
- 279Kim Jong-un, Are the 'Abnormal Signs' Growing... Health Concerns PersistJang Heejun — 22 June 2024
- 280NewsNorth Korea leader Kim Jong Un projects new image by showing off wifeFox News Channel — 26 July 2012
- 282NewsNorth Korea leader Kim Jong-un married to Ri Sol-juBBC — 25 July 2012
- 283NewsDennis Rodman lets the world know Kim Jong-un has a daughter19 March 2013
- 284Keeping up with the Kims: North Korea's elusive first family7 February 2018
- 285NewsKim Jong Un's daughter seen for first time — at a missile launch siteVictoria Bisset — 19 November 2022
- 286Kim's daughter appears again, heating up succession debate26 November 2022
- 287NewsNorth Korea Is Training Children to Target 'American Bastards' With BombsDasl Yoon — 8 July 2023
- 288NewsKim Jong Un chooses teen daughter as heir, says SeoulBBC News — 12 February 2026
- 289NewsSister helps Kim strut his stuff as key missile test loomsPhillip Sherwell — 8 January 2017
- 290NewsMeet Kim Yo-jong, the sister who is the brains behind Kim Jong-un's imageJustin McCurry — 9 October 2017
- 291NewsKim Jong-nam killing: VX nerve agent 'found on his face'24 February 2017
- 294Putin honors Kim Jong Un with a WWII memorial medal5 May 2020
- 296HELP University awards honorary doctorate to Kim Jong-UnDina Murad — 2013-10-23
- 297BookNorth Korea and Regional Security in the Kim Jong-un Era: A New International Security DilemmaBruce E. Jr. Bechtol — Palgrave Macmillan — 2014
- 298BookOur Supreme Leader: The Making of Kim Jong-unPaul French — Zed Books — 2016
- 299BookThe Great Successor: The Divinely Perfect Destiny of Brilliant Comrade Kim Jong UnAnna Fifield — PublicAffairs — 2019
- 300JournalFour factors in the "special relationship" between China and North Korea: A framework for analyzing the China–North Korea Relationship under Xi Jinping and Kim Jong-unMasahiro Hoshino et al. — 2020
- 301JournalStudies on the North Korean Monetary Economy in the Kim Jong-un EraKi-hun Kim — 2019
- 302BookBecoming Kim Jong Un: A Former CIA Officer's Insights into North Korea's Enigmatic Young DictatorJung H. Pak — Ballantine Books — 2020
- 303BookKim Jong Un AphorismsForeign Languages Publishing House — 2016
- 304BookStudy on the Power Elite of the Kim Jong Un RegimeKyo-Duk Lee et al. — Korea Institute for National Unification — 2013
- 305BookSupreme Leader Kim Jong Un in the Year 2012Foreign Languages Publishing House — January 2014
- 306BookSupreme Leader Kim Jong Un in the Year 2013Foreign Languages Publishing House — November 2014
- 307BookAnecdotes of Kim Jong Un's LifeThak Son-il et al. — Foreign Languages Publishing House — 2017
- 308BookSon of the PeopleForeign Languages Publishing House — 2018