North Korean leader's daughter known by wrong name: expert

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un talks with the North's Navy Commander Adm. Kim Myong-sik, right, with the leader’s daughter, Ju-ae, sitting in the middle during their congratulatory visit marking the anniversary of the Navy on Aug. 28, in this image captured from the North's Korean Central Television, Aug. 29. Yonhap

Retired intelligence officer says Kim Jong-un has four children, two of them born out of wedlockBy Kang Hyun-kyung

In North Korea, any information about its leader is top secret.

When Kim Jong-il (1941-2011), the father of current leader Kim Jong-un, was in power, North Korean residents did not even know if he was married or not or whether he had any children.

Some defectors testified that it was only after they arrived in South Korea that they came to know the older Kim had married several times and had four children, including Kim Jong-un and his half-brother Jong-nam who was assassinated after being poisoned by VX nerve agent in 2014 at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

North Korea’s decades-long tradition of keeping its leader’s family tree under wraps was partially broken when Kim Jong-un rose to power following his father’s sudden death in 2011 due to cardiac arrest.

Kim appeared in public with his wife, Ri Sol-ju, multiple times. He showed up at several major events along with his daughter since she was first spotted in November last year during the test launch of the Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile.

Despite the change, other details of Kim’s daughter, such as her age and other siblings, remain unknown as North Korean officials have kept their lips tightly sealed.

In North Korea’s state-controlled media, Kim’s daughter is depicted as the “respected child” or “dear child” of its supreme leader, without revealing her name.

South Korean and Western media, however, have referred to her as Kim’s second child “Ju-ae” since her first public appearance.

A retired South Korean intelligence officer claimed that the media is using the wrong name to refer to Kim’s daughter.

“Ju-ae is a misnomer,” Choe Su-yong, a former official at the National Intelligence Service (NIS), told The Korea Times. “Her name is Eun-ju, not Ju-ae.”

Choe said retired U.S. basketball star Dennis Rodman, who visited North Korea several times, with his last trip taking place in 2017, is the source of an “unconfirmed fact” about Kim’s daughter.

“I heard that Kim introduced his daughter to Rodman during his visit to North Korea, saying in Korean that ‘jeo-ae’ (that girl) is his daughter. Rodman seemed to have misunderstood the Korean word ‘jeo-ae’ as her name,” he said, citing intelligence he gathered from his informants in North Korea as the source of the information. “Rodman told the media that Kim’s daughter’s name is Ju-ae and this is what she has been called as such ever since.”

Choe, who had worked in the counter-espionage division at the NIS for two decades before retiring in 2010, declined to share further details about his informants, saying he did not want to risk their lives.

This reporter contacted Rodman via email to confirm Choe’s claim, but the U.S. sports star did not respond to the request.

In an interview with the British daily, The Guardian, released in September 2013, Rodman shared some details of his private meeting with Kim and his family.

The NBA star said he shared many meals and drinks with Kim and his family.

“I held their baby Ju-ae and spoke with Ms. Ri as well. He’s a good dad and has a beautiful family,” he said.

The NIS told The Korea Times that there is no additional information it can share with the media about Kim’s daughter.

Unification Ministry spokesperson Koo Byung-sam said the ministry is not in a position to confirm information on the North Korean leader’s daughter.

“Her name is known to be Ju-ae after U.S. sports star Dennis Rodman revealed her name in the media. There is no extra information that the unification ministry can share about her name,” he told The Korea Times.

This handout image taken by Jason Mojica and received from VICE Media on March 1, 2013 shows former NBA star Dennis Rodman, front right, applauding as he sits next to North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, front left, with other spectators at a basketball game in Pyongyang. AFP-Yonhap

Gag order generates unconfirmed facts

An Chan-il, the first North Korean defector to obtain a doctoral degree in the South, said information about the North Korean leader’s children is top secret, so there is no way for the residents of the reclusive state or people outside of the country to know about it.

“Only a few North Koreans, who are very close to Kim, would know about his children,” he said. “In North Korea, speaking publicly about the leader’s family tree or genealogy is prohibited and those who break that rule will be taken to a prison camp.”

The defector added there is a kind of gag order in place about the ruling family members.

“Prohibiting people from accessing information about the royal family is part of the culture of the personality cult. In North Korea, people are not supposed to speak publicly about the personal life of their leader or his children. North Korean residents are not even allowed to have the same name as the leader,” he said.

An said his younger brother had to change his name because he shared the first name with former North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. “His name was An Jong-il and he voluntarily changed his first name as he didn’t want to get in trouble,” he said.

After Kim’s daughter’s first public appearance in November last year, the NIS confirmed that the girl’s name is Ju-ae and that she is Kim’s second child.

According to the spy agency, Kim and Ri married in 2009 and they have three children with the first child born in 2010, the second in 2013 and the third in 2017.

Choe, however, questions the accuracy of the information, citing intelligence he gathered from his sources in the North revealing that Kim Jong-un has four children, not three as the NIS confirmed.

He said Kim's wife, Ri, gave birth to two children — a son named “Ryong-ju” and the daughter known to the media as Ju-ae. The two others — the eldest and the youngest — were born out of wedlock.

“Kim’s first child is a son, and his name is Il-bong,” Choe said, adding that he is an illegitimate child and his mother is North Korean singer-turned-politician Hyon Song-wol. “Kim’s youngest child is believed to be five years old or less. It remains unknown whether that child is a girl or a boy, but the child was born out of wedlock, too. The mother of that child is a Korean Japanese pianist. She is known by her first name Ryo-sim. But I don’t have any further details about her,” he added.

Duped by the propaganda portraying North Korea as a paradise, nearly 100,000 Koreans living in Japan migrated to North Korea on a ferry since 1959. In the North, they and their children have been victims of various forms of discrimination and persecution as some were accused of being spies. The woman who allegedly had a child with Kim Jong-un is believed to be a descendant of those Koreans who migrated to the North from Japan.

Information about Kim’s children matters, because factors like the order of birth, gender and whether they are legitimate or illegitimate all affect the selection of Kim’s successor.

Choe claimed that there was a power struggle in the North during the past few years, adding that Hyon survived and became Kim Jong-un’s favorite aide.

Hyon, who is the mother of Kim’s first child, according to Choe, is a North Korean singer and former leader of the Moranbong Band and the Samjiyon Orchestra. She has drawn keen media attention for her dramatic rise from being a singer to a high-ranking politician.

She was promoted to vice director of North Korea’s powerful Propaganda and Agitation Department and became a protocol officer for Kim Jong-un, a role previously played by Kim’s powerful sister Yo-jong.

As a protocol officer, Hyon has appeared alongside the North Korean leader at major political events.

Some Western media described Hyon as Kim’s ex-girlfriend.

Choe said Hyon’s ties with the North Korean leader began in the late 1990s when Kim Jong-un was studying in Switzerland. At that time, he said Hyon served as a kind of nanny and caretaker for Kim and his sister, and her relationship with Kim continued after they returned to the North.

Singer Hyon Song-wol, then leader of the North Korean Samjiyon Orchestra, smiles at the Presidential Palace in Hanoi, Vietnam, on March 1, 2019. Reuters-Yonhap