North Korea’s Kim names wife ‘first lady’ ahead of summit with Trump
▶ Raised status likely to be part of an effort to paint North Korea as a normal state
North Korean leader Kim Jongun has given his young, stylish wife the title of “first lady” in what analysts say is a major boost to her status before summits with South Korea and the US.
Ri Sol-ju has often accompanied Mr Kim to official events but made her first solo public appearance last weekend at a ballet performance by a visiting Chinese troupe.
The North’s state media referred to her as the “respected first lady” – the first time the title has been used in more than 40 years. The word “respected” is usually reserved for the country’s leaders.
North Korea’s elderly star anchorwoman Ri Chun-hee, who often delivers major announcements, reported on her attendance, further enhancing the first lady’s standing.
Dressed in a dusty pink twopiece skirt suit, Ms Ri was accompanied by senior North Korean officials often seen with the leader, including Mr Kim’s younger sister, Kim Yo-jong.
Ms Ri, a former star singer, emerged in 2012 and has been regarded as one of the most high-profile women in the isolated, deeply patriarchal nation, but with a limited role as Mr Kim’s stylish, coy wife.
Analysts said her promotion is part of an effort to paint North Korea as a normal state as it prepares for summits with South Korean President Moon Jae-in next Friday and later with US President Donald Trump.
It also gives her a title matching that of their wives, Kim Jung-sook and Melania Trump.
“Promoting Ri Sol-ju is the most effective marketing strategy,” said An Chan-il, a defector researcher who runs the World Institute for North Korea Studies. “The summit is being held as equals so if Melania Trump attends, Ri will attend.
Mr An said Ms Ri accompanied Mr Kim when he went to Beijing last month on his first trip abroad since inheriting power.
Ms Ri was referred to as “comrade” by the North’s state media, and the weekend report was the first time the first lady title had been used to describe the leader’s spouse since 1974, when it was applied to Kim Song-ae, the second wife of North Korea’s founder, Kim Il Sung.
Little is known about Ms Ri, who is believed to be 29 and to have three children with Mr Kim, at least one of them a daughter.
South Korean intelligence reports have described her belonging to an ordinary family. Her father was a teacher and her mother a doctor.
A former member of the North’s Unhasu Orchestra, Ms Ri reportedly attended a music school in China and visited South Korea in 2005 as a cheerleader for her country’s squad at a sporting event.
She is known to be a fashion aficionado and is often pictured wearing luxury outfits – once carrying what appeared to be a Christian Dior handbag – in a country plagued by chronic poverty.
Some analysts pointed to Mr Kim’s marginalised mother Ko Yong-hui as another factor driving Ms Ri’s expanded role.
Ms Ko, an ethnic Korean from Japan, had three children with Mr Kim’s father and predecessor Kim Jong-il, but had a low profile in their 28-year marriage.
She died in 2004, reportedly from breast cancer, and her body is said to have been secretly flown from Paris, where she was being treated, to Pyongyang.
A grave was only built for her in 2012, after Mr Kim took power.
“I think Kim Jong-un’s trauma of watching his own mother living in the shadows also factored in,” said Shin Beom-chul, an analyst at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies.
“Growing up watching his mother could have motivated him to elevate the status of his wife.”
Unlike his father and grandfather, Mr Kim is often seen accompanied by the women in his life – Ms Ri and Ms Kim – in a break from the past when leaders’ spouses or sisters rarely made public appearances.
Mr Trump said on Wednesday that although he was looking ahead optimistically to a summit meeting with Mr Kim, he could pull out if he felt it was not going anywhere.
“If I think that if it’s a meeting that is not going to be fruitful we’re not going to go,” he said, speaking alongside Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at Mr Trump’s Florida resort. “If the meeting when I’m there is not fruitful I will respectfully leave the meeting.”
He said that CIA Director Mike Pompeo and Mr Kim “got along really well” in their recent meeting, and declared, “we’ve never been in a position like this” to address concerns over North Korea’s nuclear weapons.
He also said a US-led “maximum pressure” campaign of tough economic sanctions on North Korea would continue until the isolated nation “denuclearises.”
I think Kim Jong-un’s trauma of watching his own mother living in the shadows also factored in SHIN BEOM-CHIL Asan Institute for Policy Studies