The North Korean Dictator’s Birthday Seen from the Free World
A message to Kim Jong-un on his Birthday, January 8, 2021
By Kim Myong, Senior North Korean Escapee and HRNK Contributor
Edited by Greg Scarlatoiu, HRNK Executive Director
Today is January 8, the day when Kim Jong-un, the North Korean dictator currently in his mid-30s, was born. For my fellow countrymen in North Korea, this day is supposed to be one of the “most auspicious days of the nation” that should matter more than any other day, including their parents’, siblings’, and even their own birthdays.So far, this day has not been marked red—that is, as a national holiday—on the official North Korean calendar. Nor has the North Korean media released any single article mentioning that today is the birthday of their supreme leader.
However, back in September 2010, when this young man was officially designated as the successor of his father Kim Jong-il,[1] I was among the senior officials serving the Party, the Central Government, and the Armed Forces in North Korea. And so, I was one of those informed through the internal notice system of the Korean Workers' Party (North Korea’s unique ruling party), that January 8 was his birthday, without any mention of his year of birth. At that time, the information about Kim Jong-un's birthday, although his birth year was unspecified, was classified as “top secret,” limited to a few “concerned” people inside North Korea. As the Korean proverb has it: “Words without feet travel a thousand leagues.” Meaning, “once uttered, word tends to spread far and wide in an instant.” This incomplete information was immediately spread all across North Korea. Nevertheless, no one could say it out loud publically since they were used to complying for decades with the internal rule that any information circulated to senior officials, but not included in official publications—such as the Rodong Shinmun, the official newspaper of the Korean Workers' Party—was secret.
Information on Kim Jong-un's birthday, which remained a “publicly known secret” in North Korea, was declassified officially to the world in January 2014 when Dennis Rodman, an American former NBA player, visited North Korea and sang a happy birthday song to Kim Jong-un in the Pyongyang Indoor Stadium filled with tens of thousands of Pyongyang citizens. This scene was broadcast to the entire world.
I lived in North Korea until some years ago, and I am now settled in the Free World. Still, I feel heartbroken when I recall my time on public holidays in North Korea, devoted helplessly and miserably to the Kim family, and not to myself and my family.
Public Holidays in North Korea Are Meant to Inspire and Sustain the Kim Family Personality Cult
North Korea has at least 50 public holidays and commemorations in a calendar year.[2]The purpose pursued by the North Korean authorities when enacting a public holiday is twofold: (i) to preserve a minimum level of observing Korean traditions and international celebrations; and (ii) to ensure that “the great leaders’ revolutionary life and achievements shine across generations.” Therefore, nearly three-fourths of the public holidays and commemorations established in this country are connected to the political events highlighting the life and achievements of the Kim family, and only a few originate from Korean traditions or international celebrations (Fig. 1). Out of these, April 15 and February 16 are considered the most important holidays. These days are called the “Day of the Sun” and the “Day of the Shining Star,” marking the births of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il, the world's most vicious dictators, who have turned the country into a prison for most, enslaving and exploiting their people for decades.
Figure 1:
Distribution of North Korean public holidays and commemoration days by type (Unit: Percentage)
Public holidays in North Korea do not exist to provide people with social and cultural leisure or sufficient time to relax. They exist to impose another type of intensive organizational life on the people, and to inspire the idolization of the Kim family through various political organizations to which people belong.[3] On these holidays, North Koreans are obliged to start off their long day by offering a basket or a bouquet of flowers at Kim Il-sung’s and Kim Jong-il’s statues or “shrines” displaying their full body portraits in mozaics. These are found everywhere in the country. This gesture alone puts an enormous economic burden on North Korean families, who have to pay a minimum of 5,000 North Korean won to buy a bouquet of flowers, which is 25 percent higher than the average monthly salary of 4,000 won. In many cases, where two or more holidays come in a row in a month, people fall onto very hard times, as they have to borrow money to buy these flowers.
In addition to the wreath laying, various congratulatory group activities are organized at workplaces. These include the adoption of congratulatory messages to the supreme leader, sports competitions, art performances, revolutionary feature film sessions, lectures and oath taking, etc. North Koreans are mandated to participate faithfully in this political life. If they fail to do so, they may be labeled as“indecent”or “ideologically sick,” and in the worst cases, their names may be included in the black lists managed by their political organizations.
People engage in mandatory “group life” and “group activities aimed to worship the leaders. At the end of the day, because of engaging in such boring mandatory “group activities” without compensation, people naturally get exhausted. On holidays, fatigue accumulates under great stress. Sometimes, to ease people’s complaints, especially while celebrating the Kims’ birthdays, North Korean authorities extend holidays for a day or two.
However, due to the mental and physical stress and economic burden arising from each of these public holidays, North Koreans do not feel very pleased with an increase in the number of public holidays, such as Kim Jong-un’s birthday.
The highest-level agency that designs and executes the idolization projects on public holidays is the Propaganda and Agitation Department of the Korean Workers’ Party. This department plays an instrumental role in maintaining the North Korean regime by maintaining the cult of personality and loyalty to the Kim family through the carefully planned and executed brainwashing of all North Koreans.
How is Kim Jong-un’s Birthday Celebrated in North Korea?
When I was in North Korea, I heard that Kim Jong-un’s close aides, who were in a frenzy to excel in the loyalty competition, had submitted proposals to make his birthday a “great national holiday,” but their proposal was rejected every time.
However, given that his grandfather Kim Il-sung and father Kim Jong-il made their own birthdays national holidays in 1968 and 1976, when they turned 56 and 34 respectively, he seems not too far away from doing the same. No one but Kim Jong-un would know the right time for making every January 8 one of the “auspicious national holidays.”
Over the past years, many North Korean people prepared baskets or bouquets of flowers in advance of the eve of January 8, anticipating that the following day would be declared a national holiday overnight. This has not become a reality yet.
Then, does anything really happen in North Korea on Kim Jong-un's birthday? Yes, it does.
In fact, Kim Jong-un has approved all the other bells and whistles, except for the formal declaration of his birthday as a public holiday. Internally, the Korean Workers’ Party has moved towards celebrating January 8 to some extent by implicitly approving a number of activities organized for this day. It should not be considered a coincidence that Dennis Rodman came to Pyongyang in January 2014 and sang a happy birthday song for the young dictator in public. This should be considered a carefully planned and executed act by the Korean Workers’ Party.
Since 2011, a campaign has been undertaken among the senior officials, which included myself, to prepare personal letters and birthday gifts for Kim Jong-un every January 8. When I first wrote a letter on his birthday, l misspelled his name as “Kim Jong-woon,” just like some other officials who did not know how to spell his name correctly. In addition, not knowing how old he was at the time, I was not sure how to formulate the first sentence that should normally read as: “On your (#)th anniversary, I would like to extend warmest congratulations.” After giving it careful thought, I finally decided to make it: “On your significant birthday … ” In the body of the letter, I also had to write at least two sentences praising him for having done good work for the people. For this part, not knowing what this young man had done so far, I spent hours trying to formulate a sentence crediting his father’s achievements to him, and this was the best I could do to finish the job. I was extraordinarily upset with myself for having written a congratulatory birthday message to the younger dictator I knew so little about. Likewise, not knowing this man’s preferences, it was a tough job to prepare a birthday gift for him.
On the other hand, it was well known inside the Korean Workers’ Party that every year, Kim Jong-un organized a birthday party with his close “friends,” entertained by his private “pleasure brigade,” a group of women carefully hand-picked to entertain men belonging to the inner core of the Kim family and the top echelons of the Korean Workers’ Party and the North Korean regime. His “partying style” is exactly the same as his father Kim Jong-il, who was the first to design a “party culture” for himself in the mid-1970s soon after he became Kim Il-sung’s successor. He used this “party culture” until his last days as a means to maintain his power and manage his entourage. “Like father, like son,” Kim Jong-un has probably inherited the DNA of “party culture” from his father.
Until I defected from North Korea, I was forced to prepare congratulatory letters, gifts, and “loyalty funds” for Kim Jong-un on such important occasions as January 8, September 9 (foundation of the DPRK), and October 10 (foundation of the Korean Workers’ Party). I believe that similar projects are still going on in North Korea today not only among the senior officials, but also among the general public to deepen Kim Jong-un’s cult of personality, and to create a de facto holiday atmosphere on his birthday.
Factors that Hinder Kim Jong-Un's Idolization
The first attempt to idolize Kim Jong-un began early in 2010, when he became known as Kim Jong-il’s successor. Revolutionary anecdotes about his childhood and his genius as well as songs praising him, such as “Footsteps,” were created to be widely disseminated among the people.
The North Korean authorities have been striving to make him a “Divine Being” by beautifully packaging all the traces of his short life with revolutionary activities, just like they did for his father and grandfather. Still, they do not want to reveal the specific contents surrounding his birth, such as the year and place of birth or his biological mother.
Last year, North Korea reportedly released a book on the “revolutionary history of Kim Jong-un,” where a full chapter on his birth was missing.[4] This would mean that the quiet, but thorough and steady preparatory work to “sanctify” him is still going on in North Korea and requires more time to be completed. At present, no one knows for sure whether the outside world will be told that Wonsan of Gangwon Province is his birthplace or whether the sacred Mount Baekdu will finally be chosen as his “mythical birthplace” to emulate his father’s example.[5]
The scenario of making Mount Baekdu Kim Jong-un’s birthplace would certainly be more impressive than any other scenario. But how many North Koreans will believe that the future crown prince was born on Mount Baekdu in the coldest region in the country in January, the coldest month of the year, during this peaceful time (that is, not during the Japanese occupation, when his father Kim Jong-il was born).
As far as his mother Ko Yong-hui is concerned, many people in North Korea know that she was one of the Koreans repatriated from Japan with her family in the 1960s to start her professional career as a dancer of the Mansudae Arts Troupe, and that she quit her job to live her "royal concubine" life with Kim Jong-il. In North Korea, I personally visited Ko Yong-hui’s tomb, isolated from other burial sites, located on the back slope of the “Taesongsan Revolutionary Martyrs' Cemetery” hill in Pyongyang. At that time, I was very surprised that her tombstone only read " Son-gun Korea’s mother" without revealing that she was Kim Jong-un's mother. After Kim Jong-un came to power, the work to idolize his mother was launched inside the Korean People’s Army and in some civilian units, but this was suspended all of sudden on the supreme leader’s order.
There has been a tendency in North Korea to despise the Koreans who migrated from Japan in the 1960s or 1970s by calling them "Jae-po."[6] The fact that Ko Yong-hui was a “Jae-po” and that she was not a legal wife to Kim Jong-il, which many people know, seems to be main the reason why her idolization was halted.
The fact that Kim Jong-un was an illegitimate child, a “bastard” of a "Jae-po" lady may obscure his own legitimacy, since this would be inconsistent with the principle of succession in the Kim family, emphasizing the Baekdu lineage. At the same time, it looks like the Department of Propaganda and Agitation of the Korean Workers' Party is not yet confident they can elevate Kim Jong-un to God-like status at the same level as Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il, and they may still find it burdensome and difficult to challenge common sense and manipulate facts.
While the idolization of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il was easier and went relatively smoother in the second half of the last century because the media for news reporting were TV, radio, and newspapers, this is no longer the case today when news is delivered at the speed of light to every corner of the planet with the advancement of information technology and social media. Although the North Korean regime continues to control information, some North Koreans do have more access to information from the outside world via a variety of vehicles. Therefore, it would not be as easy as it may look to instill the idolization of Kim Jong-un among North Koreans in the 21st century.
However, I do believe that the North Korean authorities, who are masters of manipulating facts and lords of lies, will not leave those elements necessary for Kim Jong-il’s idolization blank forever. They already have plenty of experience in manipulating facts. They still insist that the Korean War, which began on June 25, 1950 with their own invasion of the South, was “a war of aggression caused by the American imperialists and their South Korean puppets.” In 2008, when Kim Jong-il was not able to make a public appearance during the September 9 celebration festival because of a stroke he had suffered a month earlier, they lied to the people, telling them that his absence was to serve the purpose of “safeguarding the head of our revolution against a terrorist attack plotted by our enemies.”
Nothing is impossible when it comes to idolizing the supreme leader in North Korea. Sooner or later, the time will come when North Korea completes Kim Jong-un’s personality cult by wrapping up his birthplace and his mother in a shroud of mystery and myth.
The Fate of North Korean Dictators as Big Frogs in a Small Pond
For any country in the world, the scope and magnitude of countries visited by the Head of State symbolize their openness and engagement policy as well as their external status vis-Ã -vis others.At the “Kumsusan Palace of the Sun,” where the mummified bodies of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il are carefully enshrined, visitors can find a large map on the wall, visualizing the countries that these two dictators visited in their lifetime. In front of this map, the North Korean guides explain that “Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il were the world leaders most respected and praised by all peoples” and that “they led the communist movement and the world revolution by visiting lots of countries.” However, based on historical facts, one can easily realize that the propaganda is biased and misleading.[7]
During his 46-year-long reign starting from 1948, when the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea was founded, until his death in 1994, Kim Il-sung visited a total of 15 countries 53 times. However, his visits were skewed towards North Korea’s closest allies, such as China and Russia, which he visited 15 and 13 times, respectively. In addition, he visited one to four times other socialist countries in Eastern Europe, including East Germany, Romania, and Bulgaria, and a few non-aligned countries, such as Algeria and Indonesia. Kim Jong-il, the reclusive ruler who reigned for 17 years after Kim Il-sung’s death, visited only two countries, China and Russia, eight and three times, respectively. His son Kim Jong-un, the current North Korean ruler, who acceded to the throne in 2011, visited Singapore and Vietnam for the US-DPRK summit meetings. He also visited North Korea’s traditional allies, China three times and Russia once (Fig.2).
Kim Il-sung, who enjoyed the support of socialist countries and the Third World during the Cold War between East and West, was able to visit a far larger number of countries for active diplomatic engagement. However, his target countries were strictly limited to the socialist camp and the Non-Aligned Movement. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, as the socialist camp in Eastern Europe collapsed and the Cold War ended, the scope and extent of North Korea's diplomatic activities began to shrink significantly. However, as a result of the Sunshine Policy promoted by the South Korean government, and of the US engagement policy at the end of the 20th century, North Korea was given an opportunity to escape international isolation by establishing diplomatic relations with many Western countries, and to expand its diplomatic horizon. Nevertheless, North Korea was not able to capitalize on this opportunity for the sake of its economic development.
Had Kim Jong-il been keen on economic prosperity for his country, he would not have been satisfied with visiting only his traditional allies. He would have been more willing to visit other advanced countries to learn and benchmark their economic success stories. Despite the favor shown by many Western countries for establishing diplomatic relations with North Korea,[8]
Kim Jong-il was reluctant to open up to them because they wanted to engage with North Korea on its hot potato issues, such as denuclarization and human rights violations. Instead of opening up for economic prosperity, he firmly closed the country’s door, deepening North Korea’s isolation and continuing his nuclear arms race.
Today, North Korea’s young dictator is following the same path taken by his predecessors instead of learning the lessons of the past. He seems more interested in benchmarking his predecessors’ “wisdom” and governance styles to complete nuclear development, rather than benchmarking the development models offered by other countries for the sake of economic prosperity. He continues to adhere to self-reliance as the national philosophy to make the country one of the poorest and most underdeveloped in the world.
Unless Kim Jong-un makes a bold decision to get away from the legacies and footprints of his predecessors to tread a new path of reform and open policy, he will remain completely isolated from the outside world, and there will be no country in the world, other than China and Russia, to welcome him in their territory. Just like his predecessors, Kim Jong-un will continue to be a big frog in a small well, the most isolated ruler in the 21st century.
Number of countries visited and total number of visits by Kim family rulers
A Message to Kim Jong-un from the Free World on his Birthday
Each time I wrote a personal congratulatory letter to Kim Jong-un on his birthday or other occasions in North Korea, I sincerely wished that he would lead the country down the right path. However, as time passed by, I soon realized that I was wrong to wish so, and there was nothing else to expect from him other than him turning into a more vicious dictator than his predecessors. As long as Kim Jong-un reigns, there can be no bright future for North Korea. I firmly believe that my fellow countrymen still living in North Korea will share my feelings. Therefore, I would like to replace my usual congratulatory letters sent to him on his birthdays with this short message:
My fellow countrymen have suffered long and hard enough under three generations of your family, beginning with your grandfather Kim Il-sung. Now, it is time to change the status quo.
Live the rest of your life as a normal North Korean citizen, and STEP DOWN immediately from the throne. Leave the future of this country in the free hands of your 25 million people. In this way, you can save your own life and the lives of your own family, too.
I look forward to you making a smart decision.”
Annex I: List of public holidays or commemorations in North Korea
A: Public holidays*
Date | Type** | Description | Note |
January 1st | III | Yang-ryok-sol or New Year’s Day | Celebrates the opening of the Gregorian New Year. |
January 8 | I | Kim Jong-un’s birthday | This day has not yet been designated as public holiday. However, it is unofficially celebrated by the elite group of the Workers’ Party of Korea. |
January 25 (February 12, 2021) | II | Sol-myong-jeol or Lunar New Year’s Day | Celebrates the opening of the Lunar New Year. |
February 8 | I | Kon-keun-jeol or Army Foundation Day | Celebrates the day when Kim Il-sung founded the Korean People’s Army in 1948. |
February 8 (February 26, 2021) | II | Jong-wol-dae-bo-rum | Celebrates the First Full Moon on the 15thday of the first month by the Lunar calendar. |
February 16 | I | Kwang-myong-song-jol or Day of the Shining Star | Celebrates Kim Jong-il’s birthday (allegedly born in 1942). |
March 8 | III | International Women’s Day |
|
April 4 (April 5, 2021) | II | Chong-myong | One of the 24 Korean seasons that falls on April 4 or 5, based on the Gregorian calendar. |
April 15 | I | Thae-yang-jol or Day of the Sun | Celebrates Kim Il-sung’s birthday (born in 1912). |
May 1st | III | May Day |
|
June 6 | I | Korean Children’s Union Foundation Day | Celebrates the day when Kim Il-sung founded the Korean Children’s Union in 1946. |
July 27 | I | Day of Victory in the Fatherland Liberation War | Celebrates the ending of the Korean War in 1953. North Korea claims that the war ended victoriously due to Kim Il-sung’s leadership. |
August 15 | I | Day of Korea’s Liberation | Celebrates the day when Korea was liberated from the Japanese occupation in 1945. North Korea claims that Kim Il-sung’s guerilla was instrumental to the liberation. |
August 25 | I | Son-gun-jol | Honors the day when Kim Jong-il started the “Son-gun”-based leadership by inspecting an Army Tank Unit in 1960. Son-gun is a Korean word for “military first”. |
September 9 | I | National Day | Celebrates the day when Kim Il-sung founded the DPRK in 1948. |
October 1 (September 21, 2021) | II | Chu-sok or Han-ga-wi | Korean “Thanksgiving” that falls on the 15th day of the eighth month by the Lunar calendar. |
October 10 | I | Party Foundation Day | Celebrates the day when Kim Il-sung founded the Workers’ Party of Korea in 1945. |
November 16 | I | Mother’s Day | This day has become a public holiday in 2012 to honor the day when Kim Il-sung made a speech at the First National Conference of Mothers in 1961. |
December 27 | I | Constitution Day | Celebrates the day when the Socialist Constitution of the DPRK was enacted in 1972. |
B: Public commemorations
Date | Category | Description | Note |
February 14 | I | Generalissimo Day (1) | Honors the day when Kim Jong-il received the title "Generalissimo of the Republic" posthumously in 2012. |
March 2nd | I | Tree Planting Day | People across the country plant trees. |
April 9 | I | Election Day (1) | Honors the day when Kim Jong-il was elected Chairman of the National Defense Commission in 1993. |
April 11 | I | Election Day (2) | Honors the day when Kim Jong-un was elected First Secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea in 2012. |
April 13 | I | Election Day (3) | Honors the day when Kim Jong-un was elected First Chairman of the National Defense Commission in 2012. |
April 13 | I | Generalissimo Day (2) | Honors the day when Kim Il-sung received the title “Generalissimo of the Republic” in 1992. |
April 21 | I | Kang Pan-sok’s birthday | Honors Kang Ban-sok’s birthday, mother of Kim Il-sung (born in 1892). |
April 25 | I | Army Foundation Day | Honors the day when Kim Il-sung founded the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army in 1932. |
May 5 | I | Association for the Restoration of the Fatherland Foundation Day | Honors the day when Kim Il-sung founded the Association for the Restoration of the Fatherland in 1936. |
May 9 | I | Election Day (4) | Honors the day when Kim Jong-un was elected Chairman of the Workers’ Party of Korea in 2016. |
June 1st | III | International Children’s Day |
|
June 5 | I | National Memorial Day | Honors the day when Kim Hyong-jik, father of Kim Il-sung died in 1926. |
June 19 | I | Day of Kim Jong-il's commencement of work
| Honors the day when Kim Jong-il started working at the Workers’ Party of Korea in 1964. |
June 29 | I | Election Day (5) | Honors the day when Kim Jong-un was elected Chairman of the State Affairs Commission in 2016. |
July 3 | IV | Strategic Armed Forces Day | Honors the day when the strategic army unit was set up in 1999. |
July 8 | I | Greatest National Memorial Day (1) | Honors the day when Kim Il-sung died in 1994. |
July 10 | I | Kim Hyong-jik’s birthday | Honors Kim Hyong-jik’s birthday, father of Kim Il-sung (born in 1894). |
July 12 | IV | Marine Sports Day |
|
July 17 | I | Marshal Day | Honors the day when Kim Jong-un received the title “Marshal of the Republic” in 2012. |
July 31 | I | National Memorial Day | Honors the day when Kang Ban-sok, mother of Kim Il Sung, died in 1932. |
August 28 | I | Chong-nyon-jeol or Youth Day | Honors the day when Kim Il-sung founded the Korean Communist Youth League in 1927. |
August 28 | IV | Navy Day | Honors the day when the first navy unit was set up in 1949. |
September 22 | I | National Memorial Day | Honors the day when Kim Jong-suk, first wife of Kim Il-sung and mother of Kim Jong-il, died in 1949. |
October 8 | I | Election Day (6) | Honors the day when Kim Jong-il was elected General Secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea in 1997. |
October 11 | IV | Sports Day |
|
October 17 | I | Day of Foundation of the Down-with Imperialism Union | Honors the day when Kim Il-sung founded the Down-with Imperialism Union in 1926. |
November 29 | IV | Air Force Day | Honors the day when the first air force unit set up in 1945. |
December 17 | I | Greatest National Memorial Day (2) | Honors the day when Kim Jong-il died in 2011. |
December 24 | I | Supreme Commander Day (1) | Honors the day when Kim Jong-il was appointed Supreme Commander of the Korean People’s Army in 1991. |
December 24 | I | Kim Jong-suk’s birthday | Honors the birthday of Kim Jong-suk, first wife of Kim Il-sung and mother of Kim Jong-il (born in 1917). |
December 30 | I | Supreme Commander Day (2)
| Honors the day when Kim Jong-un was appointed Supreme Commander of the armed forces of the DPRK in 2011. |
Source: North Korea’s Calendar for the Year 2020, printed by the Foreign Languages Publishing House, DPRK
Notes:
* Red colored public holidays on the calendar
**Type of holidays (I: Related to the Kim family or their political events; II: Related to national traditions; III: Related to international holidays; IV: Others)
Annex II: Foreign countries visited officially or informally by the Kim family
Kim family | Details of countries visited (Years and times) |
Kim Il Sung (Ruling period: 1948-1994)
| China: 15 times –Years of visit: 1950, 1953, 1954, 1958, 1959, 1961, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1975, 1982, 1984, 1987, 1989, 1991 Russia, former Soviet Union: 13 times -Years of visit: 1949, 1950, 1953, 1956 (3 times), 1957, 1959, 1961 (2), 1984 (2), 1986 Romania: 4 times -Years of visit: 1956, 1975, 1980, 1984 Bulgaria: 3 times -Years of visit: 1956, 1975, 1984 Yugoslavia: 3 times -Years of visit: 1975, 1980, 1984 Czech Republic, former Czechoslovakia: 2 times -Years of visit: 1956, 1984 East Germany: 2 times -Years of visit: 1956, 1984 Hungary: 2 times -Years of visit: 1956, 1984 Mongolia: 2 times -Years of visit: 1956, 1988 Poland: 2 times --Years of visit: 1956, 1984 Albania: 1 time -Year of visit: 1956 Algeria: 1 time -Year of visit: 1975 Indonesia: 1 time - Year of visit: 1965 Mauritania: 1 time - Year of visit: 1975 Vietnam: 1 time - Year of visit: 1958
|
Kim Jong-il (Ruling period: 1994-2011)
| Before ruling: Russia: 1 time – Year of visit: 1959 (to accompany Kim Il-sung on official visit to the Soviet Union) Indonesia: 1 time -Year of visit: 1965 (to accompany Kim Il-sung on official visit to Indonesia) China: 1 time -Year of visit: 1983 (informal visit on the invitation by the Chinese Communist Party)
During ruling: China: 8 times -Years of visit: 2000, 2001, 2004, 2006, 2010, 2010, 2011 (2 times) Russia: 3 times -Years of visit: 2001, 2002, 2011 |
Kim Jong-un (Ruling period: 2011 to present) | Before ruling: Studied in Bern, Switzerland (1998-2000)
During ruling: China: 4 times -Years of visit: 2018 (3 times), 2019 Singapore: 1 time -Year of visit: 2018 (to hold the first summit with USA) Vietnam: 1 time -Year of visit: 2019 (to hold the second summit with USA and on official visit to Vietnam) Russia: 1 time -Year of visit: 2019
|
Source: Compiled by the author from media sources, including Yonhap Yearbook 2019.
[1] On September 27, 2010, Kim Jong-un was awarded the title of General of the Korean People's Army, and the following day, he was appointed as vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea. This news gave a clue to believe that Kim Jong-un was Kim Jong-il’s successor.
[2] See annex I. This annex is based on a North Korean calendar for 2020.
[3] North Korea's political organizations consist mainly of the Workers Party of Korea and its affiliated organizations, such as the Youth League, the Women’s Union, the Children’s Union, the Federation of Trade Unions and the Farmers' Alliance.
[4] https://www.rfa.org/korean/in_focus/ne-hm-11252020070827.html
[5] Kim Jong-il is known to be born in Russia unlike his claim that he was born in Mount Baekdu.
[6] In North Korea, the term “Jae-po” is used with a pejorative nuance to designate Koreans who migrated from Japan.
[7] See annex II. This annex is based on media sources including Yonhap Yearbook 2019.
[8] In 2000 and onwards, North Korea was able to establish diplomatic relations with UK, Italy and other Western countries. As of January 1, 2021, North Korea has diplomatic relations with a total of 161 countries. Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Korea (http://www.mofa.go.kr/www/wpge/m_4181/contents.do)
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