Now the ‘Dear Leader’ of a nation in conflict with more or less every other in the world due to an obsession with developing nuclear weapons, it seems Kim Jong-un was born to head a totalitarian regime.
However, this is not the case.
Kim was neither first nor second in line to take over from his father Kim Jong-Il, but after both his older brothers fell out of favour, he became the prime candidate.
Reigning supreme: Despite being third in line at the time of his birth, North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un managed to surpass both his older brothers to take over form their father
SIBLING RIVALRY OF THE THREE HEIRS
While Kim Jong-Il is reported to have been a ladies man, with several mistresses and possibly dozens of illegitimate little Kims, five of his children are known to the public.
The only child by his officially acknowledged wife Kim Young-sook, is a daughter: Kim Sul-song, born in 1974, and never considered in line to take over.
However, two of his mistresses bore him sons. The eldest, Kim Jong-nam, was born in 1971 to Jong-Il and Korean filmstar Song Hye-rim.
Kim Jong-chul was born in 1981, followed by Kim Jong-un in 1984. They later had a younger sister called Kim Yo-jong in 1987.
THE EMBARRASING ELDEST WHO WANTED REFORM – AND WAS TAKEN OUT
Big brother: The late Kim Jong-nam was the oldest of Jong-Il’s five children
Song Hye-rim is said to have been Kim Jong-Il’s favourite, and his father Kim Il-Sung’s refusal to let him marry her allegedly caused friction between the founder of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and his son.
So it is not too surprising that their son Kim Jong-nam was an early first pick in the leadership draft.
Jong-nam is known to have been an early adapter of computers, and fluent in several Western languages as well as a Japanese speaker.
After studying abroad in both Russia and Switzerland as a young man, he returned to North Korea in 1988 to work for his father’s government (reportedly ordered home by his mother after developing a keen interest in partying).
There are reports that the internet enthusiast had tried to encourage reform in the country, which did not curry favour with his father, however any chance of Jong-nam taking over disintegrated in 2001.
He was detained at Tokyo airport, trying to enter Japan on a false Dominican Republic passport, accompanied by two women and a child. He claimed he was just trying to visit Disneyland.
Number one: Jong-nam, pictured with his father around 1981, was reportedly an early contender to take over as he was the son of Jong-Il’s favourite mistress
The incident caused great embarrassment to his father Kim Jong-Il, who cancelled an official trip to China reportedly due to the ‘shame’ he felt.
Big mistake: Jong-nam, seen in 2010, fell out of favour after embarrassing the family when he used a fake passport to get to Japan
There was no ‘return of the prodigal son’ scenario and Jong-nam was swiftly moved down the succession ladder. Soon after the Tokyo incident, in 2003, he left North Korea for good – possibly prompted by his disappointed father.
Jong-Nam and his family afterwards lived in virtual exile in Macau, Singapore and China.
In the years that followed, Jong-nam gained a reputation as a gambler and playboy and was a frequent visitor to the casinos and nightclubs in Macau.
In a glimpse of how different a North Korea under Jong-nam could have been, he spoke of a desire to change the totalitarian state shortly after his brother became leader.
In 2012, he told a Japanese journalist: ‘Without reforms, North Korea will collapse, and when such changes take place, the regime will collapse.’
‘Anyone with normal thinking would find it difficult to tolerate three generations of hereditary succession.’
Assassinated: Jong-Nam died earlier this year after two women injected him with poison at an airport terminal in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in a suspected assassination
An interview with his son Kim Han-Sol the same year, revealed that Jong-Nam was passed over for his younger brother because he was ‘not really interested in politics.’
In February this year, Kim Jong-Nam, 46, died after two women injected him with poison at an airport terminal in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
U.S. and South Korean government officials have said they believe the two women had been hired by North Korea to assassinate him.
THE MIDDLE ONE WHO WAS ‘TOO GIRLY’ (AND NOW WORKS FOR HIS BROTHER)
Number two: Kim Jong-Chol, pictured in 2011, was deemed to be ‘like a girl’ by Kim Jong-Il
Kim Jong-chul, now 36, is said to be alive and well in North Korea – however he was never a contender for leadership, if ‘insider’ reports are to be believed.
According to the Kenji Fujimoto, a Japanese sushi chef who spent more than a decade working for the Kim family, patriarch Jong-il said his middle-son was ‘no good because he is like a little girl’.
Fuijimoto has also described Jong-chul as having ‘a warm heart’.
These unknown effeminate traits are said to have been why he was passed over for ‘favourite’ little brother Jong-un when their father died in 2011.
Giving an example of how different Jong-chul and Jong-un were as children, Fujimoto says the older brother would always be kind to others when playing their favourite sport: basketball.
‘Jong-chul would always say, “Good job everyone, have a good rest” and let his team-mates go home. But Jong-un was always telling people off.’
Jong-chul was educated abroad, like his brothers, but while Jong-nam returned from Europe with a love of night clubs, and Jong-un with an obsession with Swiss Edam cheese, Jong-chul had fallen for music – more specifically Eric Clapton.
‘Warm heart’: Brother number two, pictured here in the 90s, is said to never have strived to lead North Korea, being more interested in playing the guitar
Not the one: A young Jong-chul is seen being thrown into the air by cheering construction workers at some point in the 1990s
KnocKim jong heavens door: The middle-son is pictured at an Eric Clapton concert in Singapore in 2011, and is now believed to be working for his younger brother
Jong-chul, reportedly an accomplished guitarist himself, was first photographed at a Clapton concert in Singapore in 2011, and then again four years later on two consecutive nights in London’s Royal Albert Hall.
The concert in London in 2015 was the last time he was seen in public, but it is believed that he is still working for the Workers’ Party of Korea, where his father appointed him a senior position while he was still alive.
According to reports, he is not seen as a threat by his younger brother as he has no interest in politics, preferring the jet-set lifestyle his family connection affords him, and is happy living in a life of luxury – and few obligations – in Pyongyang.
THE DEAR LEADER WHO HAD THE TEMPER OF A TYRANT FROM THE START
Third time lucky: Kim Jong-un, now dictator and Supreme Leader of North Korea, as a boy
If Kim Jong-chul was seen as ‘too girly’ to lead, Kim Jong-un has seemingly had it in him from the start.
The few observations of Jong-un as a child that has made it into Western media indicates that there were early signs of what was to come.
Kim Jong-il would say that out of his children, Jong-un was the one who was most like him.
Fujimoto has described the young Jong-un as hot tempered and a sore loser, with a ruthless determination even from an early age.
By the time Jong-un was born, the Kim family had amassed a huge wealth on the back of the starving North Koreans and he was immensely spoiled and would rarely hear the word ‘no’ or be contradicted.
The youngest Kim is now known for his anti-U.S. rhetoric as much as his nuclear missile ambitions and ‘short-short back and sides’ haircut.
However as a child, he was obsessed with Hollywood films, American basketball and McDonald’s burger, and would get Fujimoto to travel to Beijing to buy Big Macs that would be flown back to the young despot-to be on a private plane.
Little tyrant: Kim Jong-un, seen in images shown on big screens during a Moranbong Band concert, had a terrible temper even as a young boy – used to getting what he wanted
Big change: Jong-un is pictured during his time as a boarding school pupil in Switzerland, where he is said to have been a basketball obsessed student who loved Hollywood films
Fujimoto recalls a child who learned to drive at the age of seven and got his first Mercedes aged 10.
‘Jong Un was always very grown-up and hated being treated like a child,’ Fujimoto said in 2012.
At 15, Jong-un was sent to a private and costly international college near Berne in Switzerland, and later to the nearby Liebefeld-Steinholzi state school.
Living under the pseudonym Un Pak, Jong-un has been described by classmates as a student with little academic prowess, who spent most of his time on the school basketball courts and the ski slopes.
All lined up: Kim Jong-un stands behind his father Kim Jong-Il during one of his first public appearances as ‘heir apparent’ in 2010
Supreme leader: Kim Jong-un pictured this week, purportedly guiding the work for nuclear weaponization at an undisclosed location in North Korea
He is said to have had a girlfriend back home, who once became subjected to his fearful temper when she suggested that Jong-un, by now a habitual smoker, should quit the habit.
‘As Kim was smoking at a young age, his girlfriend advised him to quit. But Kim exploded with foul language which deeply shocked her,’ security expert Professor Nam Sung Wook told a conference in Seoul on Wednesday.
Aged 18, he returned to his father’s side, and in 2010 he was appointed a four-star general at the annual Workers’ Party Of Korea conference – and appeared in official pictures for the first time.
In 2011 when Kim Jong-Il died, there was no doubt who would take over.