Kim Jong-un during his school years in Switzerland
Former teachers of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un have shared remarkable stories of his mysterious days studying in Switzerland including his love of German folk songs.
While the supreme leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong-un is mostly known for his brutal dictatorial regime and personality cult, not many people know that he lived a big part of his life as a student in Switzerland.
Together with his older brother Kim Jong-chul and younger sister Kim Yo-jong he studied at a public school in the Swiss capital of Bern, with his former teachers only now beginning to talk about his days learning the local accent and blaring out German songs.
Kim Jong-un attended the Liebefeld-Steinhoelzli public school in Koeniz, a town just to the south of Bern.
According to a former teacher who wished to remain anonymous, Kim Jong-un loved to play basketball, spoke German with a Bernese accent pretty well and loved to sing a song called ‘Alperose’, a 1985 Swiss classic by Polo Hofer.
Although nobody really knows for sure when Kim Jong-un arrived in Bern exactly – there are even disagreements about his real birth date – he is said to have arrived in Switzerland in 1991 at the age of seven.
The authorities of Koeniz admit that Kim Jong-un attended the Liebefeld-Steinhoelzli school from August 1998 until autumn 2000 under the alias of ‘Pak-un’.
One city official said: ‘He was registered as a son of an embassy employee.’
Kim Jong-un enrolled in a class for students with a foreign language background and after a year, he enrolled in regular classes.
There has been much speculation about how he lived his life in Europe, and according to some reports his dictatorship traits started at an early age when he enrolled an older student to act as his bodyguard as he walked independently to school.
Kim Jong-un, circled, during his school years in Switzerland where teachers are finally beginning to open up about the dictator’s time there
Kim Jong-un lived in this inconspicuous apartment building in the centre of Koeniz, Switzerland
Teachers at his school described him as well integrated, diligent and ambitious.
On his final report, it was written that his greatest hobby was basketball.
Classmates from the days would mostly remember Kim Jong-un’s fascination for the game, especially for the American NBA league and Chicago Bull’s superstar Michael Jordan.
Not many teachers want to speak about his time at the school, and some only wish to do so anonymously.
Kim Jong-un’s favourite Michael Jordan (right) of the Chicago Bulls shoots over Bobby Phills of the Charlotte Hornets
Complicating the task to get a picture of Kim Jong-un’s younger years is that many people mistake him for his older brother Kim Jong-chul, who in those days looked remarkably similar.
One teacher quoted in Swiss media who could still remember the chubby North Korean dictator said that the young man particularly enjoyed singing classes.
The teacher said: ‘Kim sang Bernese folk songs and Polo Hofer’s ‘Alperose’ wholeheartedly every time.’
Kim Jong-un was also described by one of his teachers as a ‘very good maths student and interested in learning the German language.’
Kim Jong-un’s mentor in Switzerland was Ri Su-yong, 77, North Korea’s former ambassador to Switzerland.
He arranged Kim’s life in the country meticulously, including his accommodation and security.
While studying in Koeniz, Kim Jong-un lived in a flat in the centre of town next to the headquarters of Swiss wine entrepreneur Donald Hess.
After 22 years as ambassador in Switzerland, Ri Su-yong became North Korea’s foreign minister, a post which he occupied until last year.
He still sits on the mighty politburo of North Korea and is still said by experts to be close to Kim Jong-un, who always looked up to him as a mentor, even being described by Swiss media as ‘Kim Jong-un’s Swiss foster father’.
Even though he now lives lavishly in North Korea, Ri Su-yong always lived a modest live in Switzerland just like Kim Jong-un.
The new football pitch at Liebefeld-Steinhoelzli public school in Koeniz, Switzerland
With all the mysteries surrounding Kim’s younger years, local authorities and North Korea experts are not sure until when the man who later became North Korea’s supreme ruler actually stayed in Switzerland even though most say he returned to the hermit country somewhere between 2000 and 2002.
German North Korea expert Friedrich-Wilhelm Schlomann thinks he might perhaps even have stayed longer in Switzerland
Schlomann said: ‘His three years younger sister lived until 2007 in Bern. It is therefore to be assumed that he did not return to North Korea not very long before.’
Kim Jong-un’s sister Kim Yo-jong, 29, nowadays has important government posts and is the person responsible for the leader’s public image.
Kim Jong-un’s older brother Kim Jong-chul was skipped in the line of succession by their father Kim Jong-il before he died, as Kim Jong-il regarded him as not capable of leading the country and preferred to prepare his youngest son to assume command.
Ki Jong-chul is currently mostly enjoying a Western lifestyle as he tries to visit almost every concert of Eric Clapton, his biggest idol.