The trouble of the world, the 'supreme' leader of North Korea: Who is Kim Jong-Un?

Kim Jong-un was born on January 8, 1983, according to South Korean records, and on January 8, 1984, according to US records. He is a North Korean politician who has been the Supreme Leader of North Korea since 2011 and Chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea since 2012. Kim is the second child of Ko Yong-hui (1952–2004) and Kim Jong-il (1941–2011), who was the country's second leader from 1994 to 2011. He is the grandson of Kim Il-sung, the founder and first leader of North Korea from 1948 to 1994. Kim is the first North Korean leader to be born after the country's founding, and also the second youngest head of government in the world.

It was a snowy winter day exactly 11 years ago. A black Lincoln Continental from the 1970s was slowly making its way through the streets before the eyes of the tearful public. There was a bed of flowers on the vehicle, and a coffin on the bed.

There were people walking on either side of the vehicle. Some were dressed in dark green military uniforms, while others wore black mourning suits.

To the far right, there was a man holding the rear-view mirror mounted on the hood of the vehicle with his left hand and occasionally giving a military salute with his right hand. A stocky, round-faced young man in his 20s. It was read because of his finished state of sadness. It was even reflected in the cameras that he wiped his eyes from time to time during the funeral.

Contrary to the general tearful public, that young man had lost not only the head of state but also his father.

The person who shed tears for him was Kim Jong Il, and the one who shed tears was Kim Jong Un, whose name has not fallen off the agenda of the international public even for a day.

If you asked Kim Jong Un himself, he probably wouldn't want to be shedding tears when he first appeared in front of the world. However, with the sudden death of his father during a train journey, on December 17, 2011, Kim suddenly found himself, like his father and grandfather, the leader of North Korea.

North Korea, one of the few countries in the world that has nuclear weapons, is known for its secrecy. It is very difficult to form an opinion about the country, which has very limited access to foreigners, from the outside. For this very reason, everyone was wondering what the young Kim's performance in government would be.

Some analysts thought that this young man, who they thought had not yet won the loyalty of the top names of the ruling Korean Workers' Party and the generals at the head of the giant army, would be wiped out in a few years. Even his long black coat and haircut, reminiscent of his grandfather, legendary leader Kim Il Sung, were seen as superficial attempts to establish himself.

According to these analysts, the North Korean state apparatus would have taken advantage of Kim's inexperience, which would plunge both the country, the region, and the rest of the world into unprecedented uncertainty.

In fact, just two days after Kim became president, Victor Cha, the former White House director of relations with Asia, wrote that "whether in a few weeks or months, the North Korean regime will crumble after the untimely death of its leader, Kim Jong Il."

Joseph Yun, the former US Special Representative for North Korea, said in a statement to CNN that in his early days, Kim was a figure that was almost ridiculed, adding: "For a while, Kim Jong Un was like a bad cartoon in South Korea and China. "We could even say he was being mocked. It was very difficult for the international public, especially South Korea and the United States, to take him seriously."

Some hoped that Kim Jong Un, who was educated at a boarding school in Switzerland where few people were accepted, would bring a new face to the country, who said he loved watching the NBA at every opportunity. In the best-case scenario, this young and free-spirited leader would have put an end to the regime's aspirations to nuclear weapons and averted gruesome human rights abuses.

NONE OF THE EXPECTED IN 11 YEARS HAS HAPPENED

When we come to the end of the 11th year, we see that none of these expectations and hopes have come true.

"It was a mistake for some people to think that Kim would reform," Duyeon Kim of the think tank Center for a New American Security told The Guardian.

"Being educated in the West does not mean that one will directly adopt democratic values. Ultimately, it's about keeping the Kim dynasty in power forever. So it's only natural that Kim will do whatever he can for absolute power. On the one hand, Kim keeps the elites happy and keeps the Kim family in leadership. while he is making ruthless moves to eliminate threats and ensure loyalty. This is how he holds power."

In October 2020, Kim took a very unusual step to apologize to the people of North Korea. He tearfully said that he failed to run the country in difficult times. Calling the people of North Korea, who are facing a food crisis and whose economic burden has increased with the closure of the Chinese border due to Covid, to "take a new hard walk", Kim compared the situation to the great famine in the 1990s that killed hundreds of thousands of people.

Today, nobody questions Kim's authority. However, despite all these problems, the expectations that the regime will collapse are seen as inaccurate today as they were 11 years ago. In fact, it is almost certain that Kim will rule Korea for many more years as long as his health allows.