[imText1]Kim Jong Eun was added to the South Korean National Intelligence Service’s personal information database of North Korean leaders on October 13th. However, his birth year and birthplace were not added.
The National Intelligence Service (NIS) is the second government agency to acknowledge the importance of Kim Jong Eun in its records, following the Ministry of Unification. Under “experience” it states that Kim became a People’s Army general and Vice Chairman of Military Commission at the Chosun Workers’ Party Delegates’ Conference.
The fact that the birthplace and birth year sections have been left empty reflects the inaccuracy and potential for North Korean manipulation of the personal information of the successor. This likelihood that the authorities will manipulate Kim Jong Eun’s birthplace and/or date of birth in the near future and use the information for idolization is high.
For example, although all indications are that Kim Jong Il was born in Khabarovsk in the Soviet Union, the authorities denied that, building a “secret” log cabin at Mt. Baekdu to promote and strengthen the claim that he is a descendant of the “Mt. Baekdu line”. In 1988 they renamed “Jang Su Peak”, which lies behind the cabin, “Jong Il Peak”.
In a variation on the same theme, North Korean citizen testimony suggests that Kim Jong Eun’s “birthplace” is already being built in Kangdong-gun, Pyongyang.
A North Korean source from Pyongyang told The Daily NK last June, “A project to build Kim Jong Eun’s birthplace in Kangdong-gun is currently underway. They are relocating the residents of Hyangmok-ri, where Kim Jong Eun’s birthplace is to be located, and there is also the ‘No.1 ceremony railroad project’ to connect Kim Jong Eun’s birthplace with the center of Pyongyang.”
Meanwhile, some North Korean sources assert that Kim Jong Eun was actually born in Changsung, North Pyongan Province, near the Supoong dam on the Yalu River. The location is officially considered a historical site related to Ko Young Hee, Kim Jong Eun’s mother and Kim Jong Il’s second wife; a memorial is also being built there for that reason.
Asked about the birthplace on October 12th, an inside source stated, “The details of birthplace idolization are yet to be seen, but when the education on Kim Jong Eun’s greatness was in progress last year, they taught us that ‘Youth Captain Kim was born under the spirit of Mt. Baekdu’.”
On the homepage of the Ministry of Unification, Kim Jong Eun’s birth year is written as 1984, but they also note that some people suggest North Korea changed his birth year to 1982 to adjust it with his father’s birthday.
The South Korean media accepts the fact that Kim Jong Eun was born in 1983, since Fujimoto Kenji, who lived with Kim Jong Eun as Kim Jong Il’s chef, gave testimony to that effect.
However, high ranking North Korean officials continue to assert that Kim Jong Eun was born in 1982, causing confusion. The argument that North Korea has adjusted Kim Jong Eun’s birth year to match Kim Jong Il’s birth year, 1942, thus making Kim Jong Il 70 in 2012 and Kim Jong Eun 30, is gaining popularity.
Kim Jong Il’s year of birth was also adjusted, from 1941 to 1942, to match the date of his father’s birth. Kim Il Sung was born in 1912.
