Kim Jong-chul

For the South Korean poet, see Kim Jong-chul (poet). For the field hockey player, see Kim Jung-chul.

Kim Jong-chul
Personal details
Born	Kim Jong-chul (1981-09-25) 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 Yong-hui (mother) Kim Il-sung (grandfather) Kim Jong-nam (brother) Kim Jong-un (brother)
Residence	Pyongyang, Democratic People's Republic of Korea

Korean name
Chosŏn'gŭl	김정철
Hancha	金正哲
Revised Romanization	Gim Jeongcheol
McCune–Reischauer	Kim Chŏngch'ŏl

This is a Korean name; the family name is Kim.

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, since Kim Jong-il was groomed by his own father, Kim Il-sung, in a similar way before becoming North Korean leader in 1994.^[1]

Early life

Kim Jong-chul was born in 1981. He is the middle son of Kim Jong-il and companion Ko Yong-hui, who died in 2004. 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.

Heir apparent

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 Ko Yong-hui, 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 1 June 2009, it was reported that Kim Jong-chul had been passed over as his younger brother, Kim Jong-un, was to succeed his father as the head of the Korean Workers' Party and de facto head of state of North Korea.^[5]

2011-present

Kim Jong-chul was reportedly spotted in Singapore on 14 February 2011, where he was attending an Eric Clapton concert.^[6] In late 2011, his father died and his younger brother, Kim Jong-un, did succeed his father as the head of state. He was again apparently seen attending another Eric Clapton concert, this time at the Royal Albert Hall in London in May 2015.^[7]

Select^{[lower-greek 1]} family tree of North Korea's ruling^{[lower-greek 2]} Kim family^{[lower-greek 3]}^{[lower-greek 4]}

Kim Bo-hyon
1871–1955

Kim Hyong-jik
1894–1926

Kang Pan-sok
1892–1932

Kim Jong-suk
1919^{[lower-greek 5]}–1949

Kim Il-sung
1912–1994

Kim Sung-ae
1928–?

Kim Yong-ju
1920–

Kim Young-sook
1947–

Song Hye-rim
1937–2002

Kim Jong-il
1941^{[lower-greek 5]}–2011

Ko Yong-hui
1953–2004

Kim Ok
1964–

Kim Kyong-hui
1946–

Jang Sung-taek
1946–2013

Kim Pyong-il
1954–

Kim Sul-song
1974–

Kim Jong-nam
1971–

Kim Jong-chul
1981–

Kim Jong-un
1983^{[lower-greek 5]}–

Ri Sol-ju
c. 1986–

Kim Yo-jong
1987–

Kim Han-sol
1995–

Kim Ju-ae
c. 2012^{[lower-greek 5]}–

Notes:

↑ 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 (and the name of the article being viewed if any) 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.)
1 2 3 4 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.
1 2 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'". BBC. 2 June 2009. Retrieved 2 June 2009.
↑ https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2011/02/116_81471.html
↑ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-32843186

Kim Jong-chul

Early life

Heir apparent

2011-present

References

Further reading