SEOUL — North Korea’s new young leader, Kim Jong- un, is married, state media said on Wednesday, putting an end to speculation over the relationship with a woman seen at his side during recent events.
The announcement, which fits a trend the upbeat Kim has followed to break out of the dour management style of his late father, Kim Jong- il, came just two weeks after he was seen at a gala performance accompanied by the woman, with rumours swirling as to whether she was his wife, lover or sister.
“Kim Jong-un’s move appears to give the youth hoping for change, especially young women, a favourable impression of him although it can make conservative old North Koreans uncomfortable,” said Cheong Seong-chang, a senior fellow at the Sejong Institute think-tank.
“Although Kim Jong-un continues a one-man dictatorship, he is expected to have a more open attitude in culture than in the Kim Jong-il era.”
Some observers in South Korea speculated she was a singer, Hyon Song-wol, he dated years ago before his father put a stop to it, but who was now back on the scene.
But the North Korean state broadcaster named his wife as Ri Sol-ju, without giving details. It is not clear when the two tied the knot.
South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency said she had been a member of a troupe of performance artists and had received etiquette training for about six months before taking on the role of first lady, quoting a source familiar with the state’s inner workings.
Recent TV footage showed the two laughing with each other, touching a child’s hair together and clapping while watching a performance featuring western show tunes and Mickey Mouse.
“While a welcoming song was playing, our party and people’s supreme leader, Marshal Kim Jong- un, came out from a ceremony of the completion (of a
‘pleasure ground’) with wife, Ri Sol-ju,” it said.
Kim, in his late- 20s, took over the family dynasty last December with the death of his father, whose rule took North Korea deeper into isolation, abject poverty and large-scale political repression.
Since then he has taken a more glitzy approach, at least on the surface, to ruling a country which is locked in a standoff with the West over its nuclear weapons program.
Kim has steadily worked to impose his own stamp on the top leadership of North Korea, and on Sunday ousted Vice Marshal Ri Yong-ho, the country’s leading military figure, who was seen as close to Kim Jong-il.