Kim Jong Un
Supreme Leader of North Korea since 2011
Kim Jong Un (born 8 January c. 1982–1984) is a North Korean politician and dictator who has been serving as the supreme leader of North Korea since 2011, following the death of his father, Kim Jong Il. He is the third ruler from the Kim family to lead the country, which was founded by his grandfather Kim Il Sung. Kim holds the positions of general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) and president of the State Affairs Commission, as well as the highest offices in the Korean People's Army.
The second of three children of Kim Jong Il and his mistress Ko Yong Hui, Kim studied at the International School of Berne in Switzerland before attending Kim Il Sung University between 2002 and 2007. From 2009, Kim was viewed as the successor to the North Korean leadership. Following his father's death in 2011, state television announced Kim as the "great successor to the revolutionary cause". He assumed various leadership posts, and also became member of the Presidium of the WPK Politburo, the highest decision-making body in the country. In July 2012, Kim was promoted to the highest rank of marshal in the Korean People's Army, consolidating his positions as commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces and Chairman of the Central Military Commission.
Like his father and grandfather before him, Kim Jong Un rules North Korea as a repressive and totalitarian dictatorship, and his leadership has maintained the Kim family cult of personality. State media often refer to him as "Respected Comrade", "Marshal", and "Head of State".
The public source identifies “Kim Jong Un” as supreme Leader of North Korea since 2011. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Jong, Supreme and Leader.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q56226. VIAF identifies the subject as 2418152140026211100002. The Library of Congress control number is n2011038915. 5 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1982, 1984, 2011 and 2002.
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This entry incorporates text from “Kim Jong Un” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.