Dictator of North Korea, the third generation in a hereditary dictatorship. He took power in 2011. He seldom goes abroad. He has expressed interest in reviving international tourism. In June 2025 he attended the opening of the Wonsan-Kalma Beach Resort with his wife and daughter. On September 3rd 2025 he travelled by armoured train to attend China's military parade in Beijing, joining more than two dozen other world leaders. In early September 2025 he hobnobbed with Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin at an event in Beijing.
Kim held three inconclusive summits with Donald Trump during Trump's first term. In November 2025 he spoke to North Korea's parliament about his "fond memories" of meeting Trump, but said he would meet him again only if America abandons its "absurd obsession with denuclearisation".
Kim appears to have started thinking about how to ensure the Kim dynasty retains power after he is gone. His daughter, believed to be in her early teens, first appeared at his side in November 2022 during an ICBM test launch. She is often called Kim Ju Ae—a name first given by Dennis Rodman, who said he held the baby during a 2013 visit—though a recently defected diplomat says it is actually Kim Ju Ye. Official media call her the "respected child" or the "beloved child". During 2022-24 she appeared on North Korean television more than every other day, according to Nikkei. She has attended a ceremony at the Russian embassy in Pyongyang and accompanied Kim on a trip to Beijing. On New Year's Day 2026 she made her first public appearance in the sacred mausoleum housing the embalmed bodies of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il. Decorated military officers defer to her; state media have broadcast pictures of her favourite white horse, a powerful symbol in the founding cult of personality. South Korean officials now think she is Kim's most likely successor; he could formalise her status at the next party congress, expected in the coming months. Kim is rumoured also to have a son.
Kim emerged as his father's clear successor only after Kim Jong Il suffered a sudden stroke in 2008. To consolidate authority after his father's death in 2011, he had his uncle executed and assassinated his half-brother near the check-in desks of a Malaysian airport, using a fiendish plot that involved tricking two patsies into smearing the victim's face with a nerve agent.
Since late 2023 Kim has declared that North Korea no longer seeks reunification with South Korea but considers it an enemy, breaking with decades of rhetoric stretching back to his grandfather, Kim Il Sung.
He has overseen a crackdown on private markets (jangmadang) and on South Korean cultural influence, introducing several repressive laws including the "Law on Rejecting Reactionary Thought and Culture" (2020) and the "Youth Education Guarantee Law" (2021). In 2024 he announced the "20x10 policy for regional development", decreeing industrial plants in 20 cities each year for ten years. He also launched a programme to build 50,000 new flats in Pyongyang.
Kim has supported Russia's war against Ukraine with ammunition and troops, receiving food, fuel and technology in return. In summer 2025 he hosted Sergei Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister, aboard his yacht; Lavrov declared Russia "respects North Korea's aspirations" on nuclear development.
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