TOKYO — North Korean state media on Wednesday revealed that leader Kim Jong Eun is married, a jarring announcement in a country that has long kept its first ladies nearly invisible.
The announcement ends weeks of speculation about the identity of a slender woman — with a stylish bob of hair — who’d accompanied Kim in several recent public appearances.
State media identified the woman as Kim’s wife, “Comrade Ri Sol Ju.” But there was no mention of Ri’s age or of how long the couple has been married.
The first lady’s emergence ends a four-decade period where significant others of the ruling Kim family were kept almost entirely behind the scenes. The North’s willingness to give Ri a high profile adds to mounting evidence that Kim, appointed just seven months ago as North Korea’s leader, is trying to create a more personable image than that of his dour, reclusive father.
“It seems Kim Jong Eun will have a more open attitude compared to his father’s generation,” Cheong Seong-chang, a North Korea researcher at Seoul’s Sejong Institute, wrote in a report after the Wednesday announcement.
Ri looks to be in her late 20s or early 30s. She’s been shown with Kim in the North’s state media — either in photographs or on television — four times. The couple attended a concert with Disney characters. They visited the mausoleum where Kim Il Sung, the young leader’s grandfather, lies in state. They also toured a kindergarten, where state-released video showed the couple whispering to each other and sharing laughs. The latest batch of pictures were released early Wednesday, before the marriage announcement, when the North’s state media showed the couple at an amusement park.
At one point during the kindergarten visit, Kim and Ri simultaneously put their hands atop a schoolgirl’s head. Though they were trailed by a cadre of senior officials, the young husband and wife stayed close to one another, and Ri often leaned toward Kim. She wore a yellow polka-dotted dress with a white jacket.
Despite North Korea’s efforts to cultivate Kim’s warm image, however, the young leader oversees one of the world’s most cold-blooded states, one whose government funnels its money to weapons, provides scant food for its people, and punishes those who criticize the status quo.
Kim, thought to be in his late 20s, could still emerge as a reformer, analysts say. But since the death of Kim Jong Il last December, there has been no clear evidence of improvements in the country. Kim, instead, has quickly consolidated his power, grabbing a series of supreme positions that place him atop every important military and Workers’ Party organ, and cracking down on North Koreans who try to flee the country.
A report on Kim’s succession, released Wednesday by the International Crisis Group, described the heir’s “stable” rise to power, noting that he could be in power “for decades,” in part because of his charismatic personality.
“In the short term, his image is likely welcome in a country where most people are fatigued from mass mobilization campaigns … and chronic insecurity,” the report said. “Kim projects an image of confidence and hope, but economic recovery requires policy change, and there is no sign the regime intends to vary its economic development strategy.”
The differences between father and son, for now, remain more a matter of style.
The love life of Kim Jong Il occurred almost entirely out of public view. According to “Kim Jong Il: North Korea’s Dear Leader,” a book by Michael Breen, Kim fathered his first child with a movie star, Sung Hae Rim. The two lived in lavish, remote villas and gave their son, Kim Jong Nam, a playroom restocked each year by gift-purchase teams operating overseas. But Kim’s relationship with Sung was “the best-kept secret in the country,” Breen wrote, and it’s unclear if the couple was ever married.
At the wishes of Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il later married the daughter of a military officer, Kim Young Sook. He then had at least one more relationship with a Japanese-born Korean, Ko Young Hee, who gave birth to two more children — Kim Jong Chul and Kim Jong Eun.
Yoonjung Seo, in Seoul, contributed to this report.
The announcement ends weeks of speculation about the identity of a slender woman — with a stylish bob of hair — who’d accompanied Kim in several recent public appearances.
State media identified the woman as Kim’s wife, “Comrade Ri Sol Ju.” But there was no mention of Ri’s age or of how long the couple has been married.
The first lady’s emergence ends a four-decade period where significant others of the ruling Kim family were kept almost entirely behind the scenes. The North’s willingness to give Ri a high profile adds to mounting evidence that Kim, appointed just seven months ago as North Korea’s leader, is trying to create a more personable image than that of his dour, reclusive father.
“It seems Kim Jong Eun will have a more open attitude compared to his father’s generation,” Cheong Seong-chang, a North Korea researcher at Seoul’s Sejong Institute, wrote in a report after the Wednesday announcement.
Ri looks to be in her late 20s or early 30s. She’s been shown with Kim in the North’s state media — either in photographs or on television — four times. The couple attended a concert with Disney characters. They visited the mausoleum where Kim Il Sung, the young leader’s grandfather, lies in state. They also toured a kindergarten, where state-released video showed the couple whispering to each other and sharing laughs. The latest batch of pictures were released early Wednesday, before the marriage announcement, when the North’s state media showed the couple at an amusement park.
At one point during the kindergarten visit, Kim and Ri simultaneously put their hands atop a schoolgirl’s head. Though they were trailed by a cadre of senior officials, the young husband and wife stayed close to one another, and Ri often leaned toward Kim. She wore a yellow polka-dotted dress with a white jacket.
Despite North Korea’s efforts to cultivate Kim’s warm image, however, the young leader oversees one of the world’s most cold-blooded states, one whose government funnels its money to weapons, provides scant food for its people, and punishes those who criticize the status quo.
Kim, thought to be in his late 20s, could still emerge as a reformer, analysts say. But since the death of Kim Jong Il last December, there has been no clear evidence of improvements in the country. Kim, instead, has quickly consolidated his power, grabbing a series of supreme positions that place him atop every important military and Workers’ Party organ, and cracking down on North Koreans who try to flee the country.
A report on Kim’s succession, released Wednesday by the International Crisis Group, described the heir’s “stable” rise to power, noting that he could be in power “for decades,” in part because of his charismatic personality.
“In the short term, his image is likely welcome in a country where most people are fatigued from mass mobilization campaigns … and chronic insecurity,” the report said. “Kim projects an image of confidence and hope, but economic recovery requires policy change, and there is no sign the regime intends to vary its economic development strategy.”
The differences between father and son, for now, remain more a matter of style.
The love life of Kim Jong Il occurred almost entirely out of public view. According to “Kim Jong Il: North Korea’s Dear Leader,” a book by Michael Breen, Kim fathered his first child with a movie star, Sung Hae Rim. The two lived in lavish, remote villas and gave their son, Kim Jong Nam, a playroom restocked each year by gift-purchase teams operating overseas. But Kim’s relationship with Sung was “the best-kept secret in the country,” Breen wrote, and it’s unclear if the couple was ever married.
At the wishes of Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il later married the daughter of a military officer, Kim Young Sook. He then had at least one more relationship with a Japanese-born Korean, Ko Young Hee, who gave birth to two more children — Kim Jong Chul and Kim Jong Eun.
Yoonjung Seo, in Seoul, contributed to this report.