Born on Jan. 8, either in 1982, 1983, or 1984 (bizarrely, nobody truly knows), in Pyongyang, North Korea, Kim Jong-un is a 41, 42, or 43-year-old politician and dictator.
The third son of Kim Jong Il (the second Supreme Leader of North Korea) and one of the many grandchildren of Kim Il Sung (the founder and first Supreme Leader of the country), he has been the third Supreme Leader of North Korea since December 2011 (following his father’s death) and general secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) since 2012. His many additional titles include Marshal and Chairman of the Central Military Commission, Chairman of the State of Affairs Commission, and overall commander-in-chief.
The man referred to in North Korean media as “Dear Leader” is famously private — to the point that his daughter, Kim Ju-ae, who was born in 2012 or 2013, wasn’t seen in public until 2022. Still, he’s been front and center of many controversial news stories because of his obsession with missiles and the alleged crimes committed by his nation, believed to include torture, abductions, imprisonment in specially-built camps, and more, reportedly through his instruction and under his leadership. He’s also sent poop-filled balloons across the border to South Korea. Yes, really.
However, Kim’s most ruthless act is systematically executing members of former high-ranking North Korean figure Jang Song-taek’s family, as he perceives them to be a threat to his power. It’s alleged that he plans to eradicate all traces of Jang’s family and anyone with a history of supporting them.
Despite the occasional insulting back and forth between the misfit pair (Trump called Kim “Little Rocket Man” in 2017, per Politico), Kim has enjoyed something of a “bromance” with United States president-elect Donald Trump (they’re both horrible after all). Per The Guardian, they wrote each other letters during Trump’s first presidency, with the orange one saying, “He wrote me beautiful letters and we fell in love,” and, per CNN, Trump recently claimed North Korea’s leader had missed him while he’d been away.
Trump has a net worth of around $8 billion, according to Celebrity Net Worth, but how does that compare to his North Korean pen pal?
What is Kim Jong-un’s net worth?
Celebrity Net Worth shows Kim Jong-un’s net worth is $5 billion, making him $1 billion wealthier than his father. However, given how egotistical he is, we bet the fact Trump has a higher net worth than him grates on him tremendously.
Propaganda around Supreme Leaders is rife in North Korea. Per CBS, Kim Jong-un’s father, Kim Jong Il, is said to have had a divine birth, learned to walk at the age of three weeks, learned to talk by the age of eight weeks, wrote 1,500 books and six operas in his three years at university, shot an unprecedented (and frankly impossible) 38-under par round on North Korea’s only golf course the first time he picked up a golf club (including 11 holes-in-one), and has no need to defecate. With all that in mind, it is bordering on miraculous that Kim Jong-un hasn’t convinced the planet he’s the wealthiest man on it.
Published: Jan 9, 2025 02:12 pm