Kim Jong-chul
| Kim Jong-chul | |
|---|---|
| Personal details | |
| Born | Kim Jong-chul 25 September 1981 Pyongyang, Democratic People's Republic of Korea |
| Nationality | North Korean |
| Political party | Workers' Party of Korea |
| Relations | Kim Jong-il (father) Ko Young-hee (mother) Kim Il-sung (grandfather) Kim Jong-nam (brother) Kim Jong-un (brother) |
| Residence | Pyongyang, Democratic People's Republic of Korea |
| Kim Jong-chul | |
| Chosŏn'gŭl | 김정철 |
|---|---|
| Hancha | 金正哲 |
| Revised Romanization | Gim Jeong-cheol |
| McCune–Reischauer | Kim Chŏngch'ŏl |
Kim Jong-chul (born 25 September 1981) is the middle son of Kim Jong-il, the former leader of North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea). His older half-brother is Kim Jong-nam. His younger brother is Kim Jong-un, now the leader of North Korea.
In 2007, Jong-chul was appointed deputy chief of a leadership division of the Workers' Party. However, on 15 January 2009, the South Korean News Agency reported that Kim Jong-il appointed his youngest son, Jong-un, to be his successor, passing over Jong-nam and Jong-chul.
These reports were supported in April 2009 when Kim Jong-un assumed a low-level position within the ruling Workers' Party of Korea as Kim Jong-il was groomed by his own father, Kim Il-sung, in a similar way before becoming North Korean leader in 1994.[1]
DPRK leadership
Until 2001, it was assumed that Kim Jong-il's eventual heir would be his eldest son, Kim Jong-nam, whose mother was Song Hye-rim. But in May 2001, Kim Jong-nam was arrested at New Tokyo International Airport, Japan, travelling on a forged Dominican Republic passport.[2] He was held and then deported to the People's Republic of China. The incident caused Kim Jong-il to cancel a planned visit to China because of the embarrassment to both countries. As a result of this incident, Kim Jong-nam had fallen from favour. He was later reported to be living in Macau.
In February 2003, moves began to raise the profile of Kim Jong-chul. The Korean People's Army began a propaganda campaign using the slogan "The Respected Mother is the Most Faithful and Loyal Subject to the Dear Leader Comrade Supreme Commander." Since the "Respected Mother" was described as "[devoting] herself to the personal safety of the comrade supreme commander," and "[assisting] the comrade supreme commander nearest to his body", Western analysts assume that the "Respected Mother" was Koh Young-hee, mother of Kim Jong-chul and Kim Jong-un.[3] A similar campaign was launched in praise of Kim Jong-il's mother during the later years of Kim Il-sung's life.[3] This suggested that Kim Jong-chul, despite his youth, had emerged with Army backing to be a serious contender to succeed his father.
However, Kenji Fujimoto, Kim Jong-il's personal sushi chef, wrote in his memoir, I Was Kim Jong Il's Cook, that Kim Jong Il thought Jong-chul was "no good because he is like a little girl". Fujimoto believed Kim Jong-il favoured his youngest son, Kim Jong-un.[4]
On June 1, 2009, it was reported that Kim Jong-chul had been passed over as his younger brother, Kim Jong-un, is to succeed his father as the head of the Korean Workers' Party and de facto head of state of North Korea.[5]
Personal information
Kim Jong-chul was born in 1981. He is the middle son of Kim Jong-il and companion Ko Young-hee, who died in 2004.
Kim Jong-chul was reportedly spotted in Singapore on 14 February 2011, where he was attending an Eric Clapton concert.[6]
Select[lower-greek 1] family tree of North Korea's ruling[lower-greek 2] Kim family[lower-greek 3][lower-greek 4] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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- ↑ To keep the tree of manageable size, it omits some members, e. g., brothers and sisters of Kim Jong-il.
- ↑ Names of Supreme Leaders of the DPRK are in bold font.
- ↑ Korean names often have a variety of transliterations into English, which can be confusing. For example, "Kim Jong-chul" may also be written "Gim Jeong-cheol" or "Kim Jŏng-ch'ŏl" among many other variations. See Korean romanization for more information.
- ↑ Huss, Kan; Frost, Clay. "North Korea’s First Family: Mapping the personal and political drama of the Kim clan". msnbc.com. Retrieved 20 January 2013. (Confirms many, but not all, of the birth and death years. See individual articles for more references.)
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Official biographies of Kim Jong-suk and Kim Jong-il give birth years of 1917 and 1942, respectively, while Kim Jong-un's birth year may actually be 1984. Kim Ju-ae may have been born in late 2012 or early 2013.
References
- ↑ Sang-Hun, Choe (April 28, 2009). "Kim’s Son Joins North Korean Defense Panel". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-04-27.
- ↑ "North Korea's secretive 'first family'". BBC. 15 February 2007. Retrieved 29 March 2013.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Global Security.org. "Kim Jong Chol - Leadership Succession - Democratic People's Republic of Korea." Retrieved 2009 January 20. http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/dprk/kim-jong-chol.htm
- ↑ "Kim Jong-chul", BBC, 30 September 2010
- ↑ "N Korea 'names Kim's successor'". 2 June 2009. Retrieved 2 June 2009. Unknown parameter
|publishenewspaper=ignored (help) - ↑ http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2011/02/116_81471.html
Further reading
- Bradley Martin, Under The Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader: North Korea and the Kim Dynasty, St. Martins (October, 2004), hardcover, 868 pages, ISBN 0-312-32221-6
- Kenji Fujimoto. I Was Kim Jong Il's Cook.