mass games in Pyongyang) On 17 December 2011, Kim Jong Il died. Despite the elder Kim's plans, it was not immediately clear after his death whether Kim Jong Un would in fact take full power, and what his exact role in a new government would be. Following his father's death, Kim Jong Un was hailed as the "great successor to the revolutionary cause of
Juche", "outstanding leader of the party, army and people", and "respected comrade who is identical to Supreme Commander Kim Jong Il", and was made chairman of the Kim Jong Il funeral committee. The
Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) described Kim Jong Un as "a great person born of heaven", a propaganda term only his father and grandfather had enjoyed. The ruling Workers' Party of Korea also said in an editorial, "We vow with bleeding tears to call Kim Jong Un our supreme commander, our leader." He was publicly declared
Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army on 24 December 2011, and formally appointed to the position on 30 December 2011 when the Politburo Workers' Party of Korea "courteously proclaimed that the dear respected Kim Jong Un, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the WPK, assumed the supreme commandership of the Korean People's Army". The message also declared that it was Kim Jong Il's will on 8 October 2011 that Kim Jong Un be appointed KPA supreme commander after his death. On 26 December 2011, the leading North Korean newspaper
Rodong Sinmun reported that Kim Jong Un had been acting as chairman of the Central Military Commission, and supreme leader of the country, following his father's demise. in Pyongyang, 2012 On 27 March 2012, Kim was elected to the 4th Conference of the Workers' Party of Korea. On 11 April, that conference wrote the post of general secretary out of the party charter and instead designated Kim Jong Il as the party's "Eternal General Secretary". The conference then elected Kim Jong Un as leader of the party under the newly created title of First Secretary. Kim Jong Un also took his father's post as Chairman of the Central Military Commission, as well as his father's old seat on the
Politburo Presidium. In a speech made prior to the Conference, Kim Jong Un declared that "Imbuing the whole society with
Kimilsungism–Kimjongilism is the highest programme of our Party". On 11 April 2012, the 5th Session of the 12th Supreme People's Assembly appointed Kim Jong Un as "
First Chairman of the National Defence Commission", as the office of "Chairman of the National Defence Commission" was also abolished. In July 2012, The only higher rank is
Taewonsu (roughly translated as
Grand Marshal or
Generalissimo) which was held by Kim's grandfather, Kim Il Sung, and which was awarded posthumously to his father, Kim Jong Il, in February 2012. The Supreme People's Assembly subsequently re-elected him the First Chairman of the National Defence Commission.
Leadership style Analysts are divided about how much actual power Kim has. After he assumed power, some analysts had predicted that when Kim Jong Il died, Jang Song Thaek would act as
regent, as Kim Jong Un was too inexperienced to immediately lead the country. In July 2012, Kim Jong Un showed a change in cultural policy from his father by attending a
Moranbong Band concert. The concert contained several elements of pop culture from
the West, particularly the United States. Kim used this event to introduce his wife to the public, an unprecedented move in North Korea. In the same year, Kim Jong Il's personal chef Kenji Fujimoto visited North Korea and said, "Stores in Pyongyang were brimming with products and people in the streets looked cheerful. North Korea has changed a lot since Kim Jong Un assumed power. All of this is because of leader Kim Jong Un." According to analysts, Kim Jong Un has used his resemblance to his grandfather to harness Kim Il Sung's personality cult and popular nostalgia for earlier times. In 2013, Kim copied his grandfather's style when he gave his first New Year's address, a break from the approach of his father, Kim Jong Il, who never made a televised address during his 17 years in power. He has also appeared more accessible and open than his father, hugging and linking arms with young and old. While the height of the building and the number of casualties was not released, media reports described it as a 23-story building and indicated that more than a hundred people may have died in the collapse.
Cult of personality Kim Jong Un frequently performs symbolic acts that associate him with the
personality cult of his father and grandfather. Like them, Kim Jong Un regularly tours the country, giving "
on-the-spot guidance" at various sites. North Korean state media often refers to him as "Respected Comrade Kim Jong Un" or "Marshal Kim Jong Un". , translated to different languages On 9 January 2012, a large rally was held by the Korean People's Army in front of the
Kumsusan Palace of the Sun to honor Kim Jong Un and to demonstrate loyalty. On 15 April 2012, during a military parade to commemorate Kim Il Sung's centenary, Kim Jong Un made his first public speech,
Let Us March Forward Dynamically Towards Final Victory, Holding Higher the Banner of Songun. That speech became the basis of a hymn dedicated to him, "
Onwards Toward the Final Victory". In November 2012, satellite photos revealed a half-kilometer-long () propaganda message carved into a hillside in
Ryanggang Province, reading "Long Live General Kim Jong Un, the Shining Sun!"
Political reforms Kim has changed North Korea's internal power dynamics, increasing the influence of the WPK while decreasing the power of the military. In May 2016, he organized the WPK's
7th Congress, its first congress since 1980. In the congress, Kim was reelected as leader of the WPK, though his title of First Secretary was changed to Chairman (a title held by his grandfather from 1949 to 1966). The Supreme People's Assembly (SPA) subsequently amended the
constitution in June 2016, abolishing the National Defence Commission (NDC) except in times of war, and replacing it with the
State Affairs Commission (SAC), which was named the "supreme policy-oriented leadership body of state power". Kim became the
Chairman of the State Affairs Commission on 29 June 2016. These amendments marked the decrease of the military's influence, with the newly established SAC including more civilian and less military members than the NDC. The constitution was further amended in 2019 by the SPA. References to
Juche and
Songun were replaced by Kimilsungism–Kimjongilism, and the constitution stipulated that the mission of North Korea's armed forces was to "defend unto death the Party Central Committee headed by the great Comrade Kim Jong Un"; this made Kim the first North Korean leader to be named in the constitution while currently holding power. The chairman of the State Affairs Commission's status was amended to be the "supreme leader who represents the state", effectively making Kim Jong Un both
de jure and
de facto head of state; In January 2021, the WPK held its
8th Congress, where Kim delivered a nine-hour-long report in which he admitted failures in carrying out the economic plan and lambasted leading officials' shortcomings. He also praised the country's nuclear capability and addressed the United States as the DPRK's main enemy. Kim Jong Un was reelected as party leader, with his title changed to General Secretary, a post held by his father and grandfather. Previously, the title general secretary was awarded "eternally" to Kim Jong Il in 2012. The congress also saw the WPK reassert its commitment to communism. The
Control Commission was abolished, with the
Central Auditing Commission taking up its duties. The Congress was also unique in that its backdrop did not include the
Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il portraits where they would normally have been put, suggesting Kim's desire to make his mark on the country's politics. Politburo members increased from 28 to 30, though incumbent military elite membership decreased from eight to six. The influence of the KPA Party Committee and the
General Political Bureau (GPB) was decreased; with the committee's ranking now equal to provincial party committees, while it was above them previously. The GPB was also no longer equal to the Central Committee, while the Central Military Commission was given effective command of the armed forces. In November 2021, the South Korean NIS reported that the North Korean government has begun using the term
Kimjongunism, in an effort to establish an independent ideological system centered on Kim. Analyst Ken Gause described this as Kim "now ready to put his stamp firmly on the regime".
Economic policies Kim Jong Un has been promoting a policy of
byungjin (), similar to his grandfather Kim Il Sung's policies from the 1960s, developing the national economy in parallel with the country's
nuclear weapons program. A set of comprehensive economic measures, the "Socialist Corporate Responsible Management System", were introduced in 2013. North Korean media described the economy as a "flexible collectivist system" where enterprises were applying "active and evolutionary actions" to achieve economic development. These reports reflect Kim's general economic policy of reforming management, increasing the autonomy and incentives for economic actors. This set of reforms known as the "May 30th measures" reaffirms both socialist ownership and "objective economic laws in guidance and management" to improve living standards. Other objectives of the measures are to increase the availability of domestically manufactured goods on markets, introduction of defence innovations into the civilian sector and boost international trade. There has been a construction boom in Pyongyang, bringing colour and creative architectural styles to the city. While in the past there was a concentration on building monuments, Kim Jong Un's government has constructed amusement parks, aquatic parks, skating rinks, a
dolphinarium and a ski resort. Kim has been actively promoting a consumer culture, including entertainment and cosmetics. Kim has attempted to ease North Korea's food shortages, though the food situation deteriorated during the COVID-19 pandemic. In March 2023, during a WPK plenary session, he called for boosting agricultural production, saying that it is "important to concentrate on increasing the yield at all the farms".
Purges and executions As with all reporting on North Korea, reports of purges and executions are difficult to verify. Allegations in 2013 that Kim Jong Un had his ex-girlfriend, singer
Hyon Song Wol, executed for violating pornography laws turned out to be false. In May 2016, analysts were surprised to find that General
Ri Yong Gil, reported by South Korea to have been executed earlier in the year, was, in fact, alive and well. In December 2013, Kim Jong Un's uncle Jang Song Thaek was arrested and executed for treachery. Jang is believed to have been executed by firing squad. Yonhap has stated that, according to multiple unnamed sources, Kim Jong Un has also put to death members of Jang's family, to completely destroy all traces of Jang's existence through "extensive executions" of his family, including the children and grandchildren of all close relatives. Those reportedly killed in Kim's purge include Jang's sister Jang Kye Sun, her husband and ambassador to Cuba, Jon Yong Jin, and Jang's nephew and ambassador to Malaysia, Jang Yong Chol. The nephew's two sons were also said to have been killed. At the time of Jang's removal, it was announced that "the discovery and purge of the Jang group ... made our party and revolutionary ranks purer ..." and after his execution on 12 December 2013 state media warned that the army "will never pardon all those who disobey the order of the Supreme Commander".
Human rights violations Like his father and grandfather, Kim rules North Korea as a
totalitarian state. A report on the situation of human rights in North Korea in February 2013 by
United Nations Special Rapporteur Marzuki Darusman proposed a UN commission of inquiry. The
report of the commission of inquiry was published in February 2014 and suggested Kim could "possibly" be made accountable for crimes against humanity at the
International Criminal Court. In July 2016, the
United States Department of the Treasury imposed personal sanctions on Kim. Although his involvement in human rights abuses was cited as the reason, officials said the sanctions target the country's nuclear and missile programs. In June 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump condemned Kim Jong Un's "brutal" government and described Kim as a "madman" after the death of American student
Otto Warmbier who had been imprisoned during a visit to North Korea. However, in 2019, President Trump said that he believed Kim was not responsible for Warmbier's death.
Alleged assassination attempts In 2012, a gun was discovered beneath a juniper tree in Ryugyeongwon, located near a route that Kim was going to travel. It was assumed this was part of an assassination attempt. In May 2017, the North Korean government stated that the
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the United States and the South Korean NIS hired a North Korean
lumberjack who worked in Russia to assassinate Kim with a "biochemical weapon" that was both
radioactive and nano-poisonous, and whose effect would have been delayed by a few months. North Korea said that it would seek extradition of anyone involved in the assassination attempt.
Nuclear weapons development -9 rocket on display at a floral exhibition in Pyongyang, 30 August 2013 Under Kim Jong Un, North Korea has continued to develop nuclear weapons, testing bombs in February 2013, January and September 2016, and September 2017. , North Korea had conducted nearly 120 missile tests under Kim Jong Un, compared with roughly 33 tests during the combined tenures of his father and grandfather. According to several analysts, North Korea sees the nuclear arsenal as vital to deter an attack, and it is unlikely that North Korea would launch a nuclear war. According to a
RAND Corporation senior researcher, Kim Jong Un believes that nuclear weapons are his guarantee of the survival of North Korea and its government. In 2022, it was estimated that North Korea had around 45–55 nuclear weapons. In 2012, on the 100th anniversary of Kim Il Sung's birth, he said: "the days are gone forever when our enemies could blackmail us with nuclear bombs". In December 2015, Kim stated that his family "turned the DPRK into a powerful nuclear weapons state ready to detonate a self-reliant A-bomb and H-bomb to reliably defend its sovereignty and the dignity of the nation". During the 7th WPK Congress in 2016, Kim Jong Un stated that North Korea would "not use nuclear weapons first unless aggressive hostile forces use nuclear weapons to invade on our sovereignty". However, on other occasions, North Korea has threatened
"pre-emptive" nuclear attacks against a US-led attack. In his New Year's Day speech on 2 January 2017, Kim Jong Un said that the country was in the "last stage" of preparations to test-fire an
intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). On 4 July, North Korea conducted the first publicly announced flight test of its ICBM
Hwasong-14, timed to coincide with the U.S.
Independence Day celebrations. On 3 September, the country conducted its
sixth nuclear test. On 28 November 2017, North Korea tested the
Hwasong-15 missile, which became the first ballistic missile developed by North Korea that is theoretically capable of reaching all of the US mainland. Until 2022, North Korea's stated policy position was that nuclear weapons "will never be abused or used as a means for preemptive strike", but if there is an "attempt to have recourse to military force against us" North Korea may use their "most powerful offensive strength in advance to punish them". This was not a full
no first use policy. This policy changed in 2022 with a law approved by the SPA, which states that in the case of an attack against the top leadership or the nuclear command and control system, nuclear attacks against the enemy would be launched automatically. Additionally, the new law indicates that if Kim Jong Un was killed, the authorization of nuclear strikes would pass to a senior official.
Foreign relations China and Russian President
Vladimir Putin prior to the start of the
2025 China Victory Day Parade Relations with China initially deteriorated under Kim due to his nuclear weapons program. On 30 November 2012, Kim met with
Li Jianguo, member of the
Politburo of the ruling
Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and first-ranking
vice chairman of the National People's Congress Standing Committee, who "briefed Kim on the
18th CCP National Congress", according to the KCNA. A letter from
General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Xi Jinping was hand-delivered during the discussion.
2016, and 2017 China also banned imports of North Korean coal in February 2017, while enforcing UN Security Council sanctions on North Korea put in 2017. In response, the Korean Central News Agency published an unprecedented criticism of China, accusing it of "big-power chauvinism"; KCNA later published articles criticizing Chinese state media. The relationship started improving in March 2018, when
Kim visited Beijing, meeting with CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping, marking his first foreign trip since assuming power. From 7–8 May, Kim made a second visit to China, meeting with Xi in
Dalian. A further third meeting happened on 19–20 June, when Kim travelled to Beijing to meet Xi. Kim again met Xi in Beijing on 7–10 January 2019. On 20–21 June 2019, Xi travelled to Pyongyang, the first visit by a Chinese leader to North Korea since CCP General Secretary
Hu Jintao visited in 2005. On 2 September 2025, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, accompanied by many other North Korean dignitaries, traveled to Beijing by special train to attend the 80th anniversary of the
China Victory Day Parade, marking his first visit to China since 2019, as well as the first time he attended a multilateral event.
South Korea and the United States In his 2018 New Year Speech, Kim announced that he was open to dialogue with
South Korea with a view to take part in the
upcoming Winter Olympics in the South. The
Seoul–Pyongyang hotline was reopened after almost two years. North and South Korea marched together in the Olympics opening ceremony, and fielded a
united women's ice hockey team. In addition to the athletes, Kim sent an unprecedented high-level delegation including his sister, Kim Yo Jong, and President of the Presidium,
Kim Yong Nam, and performers such as the
Samjiyon Orchestra. On 5 March, he had a meeting with South Korea's Chief of the National Security Office, Chung Eui Yong, in Pyongyang. shake hands during the
2018 inter-Korean Summit, April 2018 At the
April 2018 inter-Korean summit, Kim and South Korean President
Moon Jae-in signed the
Panmunjom Declaration, pledging to convert the
Korean Armistice Agreement into a full peace treaty, formally ending the
Korean War, by the end of the year. On 26 May, Kim had a second and unannounced meeting in the North Korean side of
Panmunjom, meeting with Moon to discuss his proposed summit with US President Donald Trump in Singapore. , June 2018 On 10 June, Kim arrived in
Singapore and met with Prime Minister
Lee Hsien Loong. On 12 June, Kim held his
first summit with Trump and signed a declaration, affirming a commitment to peace, nuclear disarmament, and the
repatriation of the remains of U.S. war dead. This marked the first-ever meeting between leaders of North Korea and the United States. In February 2019, Kim held
another summit with Trump in
Hanoi, Vietnam, which Trump cut short on the second day without an agreement. The Trump administration said that the North Koreans wanted complete sanctions relief, while the North Koreans said that they were only asking for partial sanctions relief. On 30 June 2019, in the Korean DMZ, Kim again met with Trump, shaking hands warmly and expressing hope for peace. Kim and Trump then joined Moon Jae-in for a brief chat. Talks in Stockholm began on 5 October 2019 between US and North Korean negotiating teams but broke down after one day. During this period, Trump and Kim established a personal relationship and exchanged at least 27 letters in which the two men described a warm personal friendship. By 2020, however, negotiations almost completely stalled without progress on denuclearization, with both Trump and Kim focusing on domestic issues. North Korean foreign ministry further criticized the Trump administration that year for "empty promise[s]", and further took action by demolishing the four-story joint-liaison office building it shared with South Korea on 17 June. North Korea further ignored attempts at outreach by the administration of president
Joe Biden, and Kim said in October 2021 that the "US has been frequently sending signals that they are not hostile towards our country, but there is no single evidence that they are not hostile", and also criticized South Korea for "destroying the military balance in the Korean peninsula and increasing military instability and danger". In December 2023, during a speech at the 9th plenum of the
8th Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, Kim called for a "fundamental turnabout" in North Korea's stance towards South Korea, calling the South the "enemy". He stated "the party's comprehensive conclusion after reviewing decades-long inter-Korean relations is that reunification can never be achieved with those ROK riffraffs that defined the 'unification by absorption' and 'unification under liberal democracy' as their state policy", which he said is in "sharp contradiction with what our line of national reunification was: one nation, one state with two systems". Kim cited
South Korean constitution's claims over the entire Korean Peninsula and South Korean President
Yoon Suk Yeol's policy towards the north as evidence that South Korea is an unsuitable partner for reunification. continuing by saying it is "unsuitable" to discuss the issue of reunification "with this strange clan [ROK], who is no more than a colonial stooge of the U.S. despite the rhetorical word [we used to use]—'the fellow countrymen." Kim also instructed the WPK on reforming organizations related to inter-Korean relations, including the WPK's
United Front Department. North Korea under Kim
supported Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, blaming the "hegemonic policy" of the US for the war, recognizing the independence of the breakaway states of
Donetsk and
Luhansk People's Republics in
Eastern Ukraine as well as recognizing
Russia's unilateral annexation of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts on 30 September. In September 2022, US intelligence said that Russia was buying millions of artillery shells and rockets from North Korea due to the sanctions caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. A February 2023 report by the
Center for Strategic International Studies (CSIS) stated that after dropping to nearly zero during the COVID-19 era, trade between North Korea and Russia rebounded back to pre-pandemic levels. Shoigu met with Kim Jong Un and North Korean Defense Minister
Kang Sun Nam. In September 2023, Kim Jong Un visited Russia in his first foreign trip since 2019.
The meeting lasted over four hours at the
Vostochny Cosmodrome in the
Amur Oblast, and was described as underpinning how the two countries' interests are aligning. During the meeting, Kim once again gave his support for Russia's "sacred fight" against the west, expressing his "...support for all the measures taken by the Russian government, and [he] takes this opportunity again to affirm that [he] will always be with Russia." When asked if Russia would help North Korea build satellites, presumably in return for ammunition, Putin said "that's why [they] came here." According to the NIS, North Korea has exported over one million shells to Russia since August 2023, compared to a combined 2 million shells provided by NATO members to Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In February 2024, Kim received a car as a gift from Putin. Four months later Putin arrived in Pyongyang and held talks with Kim. It was Putin's second visit to North Korea, since 2000. Both sides signed the
North Korean–Russian Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership as an agreement of close mutual defence corporation and militant friendship. In October 2024 North Korea sent military personnel to Russia who fought against Ukraine for Russia in Russian uniforms and under Russian command.
COVID-19 pandemic During 2020, Kim claimed success in combating the
COVID-19 pandemic in North Korea, after putting the country in isolation and limiting public gatherings. In April 2020, a three-week absence from public view led to speculation that Kim was seriously ill or dead, but no clear evidence of any health problem came to light. He appeared rarely in public over the following months, possibly because of health problems or the risk of COVID-19. In August, it was reported that Kim had ceded a degree of authority to his sister, Kim Yo Jong, giving her responsibility for relations with South Korea and the United States and making her his
de facto second-in-command. On 5 September 2020, Kim toured the areas hit by
Typhoon Maysak. He also replaced the local provincial party committee chairman and ordered Pyongyang officials to lead a recovery effort. His ruling party also pledged harsh punishment for the city and provincial officials, stating that they failed to protect the residents from the disaster. Kim fired
Kim Song Il, who was chairman of the
South Hamgyong Province Workers' Party of Korea Committee. In January 2022, a North Korean
KCTV documentary, "2021, A Great Victorious Year", was released, which appeared to address Kim's sudden weight loss and infrequent public appearances. It said that Kim's body had "completely withered away" as he "suffered" for the people during 2021, completing tasks hitherto unpublicized while North Korea faced "challenges" and "worst-ever hardships". North Korea claimed to have detected no cases of COVID-19 until May 2022, although several South Korean academics doubt this claim, pointing to restrictions and economic data. In May 2022, North Korea announced that its first COVID-19 outbreak had started in April. In a meeting with the WPK, Kim ordered "all the cities and counties of the whole country to thoroughly lock down", and called for the mobilization of emergency reserve medical supplies. In the days that followed the country's announcement, hundreds of thousands of new cases of fevers were reported, as well as 27 related deaths related to fever of unidentified origins, among which one death was confirmed as from the
Omicron variant according to state-media KCNA. Kim spoke further at a subsequent WPK meeting, stating that the virus had brought "great turmoil" to his country, and urged the party and people to remain unified and organized in their efforts to combat the virus. By the end of May, North Korean state media reported the COVID-19 outbreak was "controlled and improved across the country" following a re-evaluation by Kim and the WPK. In August 2022, Kim Yo Jong indicated that Jong Un had contracted the virus. ==Personal life==