Kim Jong Un’s Family: Wife, Daughter, Children, Sister, and Mother \u2014 Daily NK<\/title>\n<link href=\"https:\/\/fonts.googleapis.com\/css2?family=Libre+Baskerville:ital,wght@0,400;0,700;1,400&family=Source+Sans+3:wght@400;500;600&display=swap\" rel=\"stylesheet\">\n<style>\n *, *::before, *::after { box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0; padding: 0; }\n\n :root {\n --red: #c0392b;\n --red-light: #fdf2f1;\n --dark: #1a1a1a;\n --mid: #444;\n --muted: #666;\n --light: #f5f4f0;\n --border: #e0ddd6;\n --white: #fff;\n --max: 740px;\n }\n\n body {\n font-family: 'Source Sans 3', sans-serif;\n font-size: 17px;\n line-height: 1.75;\n color: var(--dark);\n background: var(--white);\n padding: 0 1rem;\n }\n\n .article-wrap {\n max-width: var(--max);\n margin: 0 auto;\n padding: 2.5rem 0 4rem;\n }\n\n \/* \u2500\u2500 Header \u2500\u2500 *\/\n .article-label {\n font-size: 11px;\n font-weight: 600;\n letter-spacing: 0.1em;\n text-transform: uppercase;\n color: var(--red);\n margin-bottom: 0.75rem;\n }\n\n h1 {\n font-family: 'Libre Baskerville', Georgia, serif;\n font-size: clamp(1.6rem, 4vw, 2.2rem);\n font-weight: 700;\n line-height: 1.25;\n color: var(--dark);\n margin-bottom: 1rem;\n }\n\n .article-deck {\n font-size: 1.05rem;\n color: var(--muted);\n line-height: 1.6;\n margin-bottom: 1.25rem;\n border-bottom: 1px solid var(--border);\n padding-bottom: 1.25rem;\n }\n\n .article-meta {\n font-size: 13px;\n color: var(--muted);\n margin-bottom: 2rem;\n }\n\n .article-meta strong {\n color: var(--dark);\n font-weight: 600;\n }\n\n \/* \u2500\u2500 Methodology box \u2500\u2500 *\/\n .methodology-box {\n background: var(--light);\n border-left: 3px solid var(--red);\n border-radius: 0 4px 4px 0;\n padding: 1rem 1.25rem;\n margin-bottom: 2.5rem;\n font-size: 14px;\n color: var(--mid);\n line-height: 1.6;\n }\n\n .methodology-box .box-label {\n font-size: 10px;\n font-weight: 600;\n letter-spacing: 0.1em;\n text-transform: uppercase;\n color: var(--red);\n margin-bottom: 0.4rem;\n }\n\n \/* \u2500\u2500 TOC \u2500\u2500 *\/\n .toc {\n margin-bottom: 2.5rem;\n border-top: 2px solid var(--dark);\n border-bottom: 1px solid var(--border);\n padding: 0.9rem 0 1rem;\n }\n\n .toc-title {\n font-size: 11px;\n font-weight: 600;\n letter-spacing: 0.08em;\n text-transform: uppercase;\n color: var(--muted);\n margin-bottom: 0.6rem;\n }\n\n .toc ol {\n padding-left: 1.4rem;\n font-size: 15px;\n line-height: 1.5;\n margin: 0;\n }\n\n .toc li { margin-bottom: 0.3rem; 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}\n\n .box-by-numbers .footnote {\n font-size: 13px;\n color: var(--muted);\n border-top: 1px solid var(--border);\n padding-top: 0.6rem;\n margin-top: 0.25rem;\n }\n\n .box-assessment {\n border: 1px solid var(--red);\n border-radius: 4px;\n padding: 1rem 1.25rem;\n margin: 1.75rem 0;\n }\n\n .box-assessment .box-label {\n font-size: 10px;\n font-weight: 600;\n letter-spacing: 0.1em;\n text-transform: uppercase;\n color: var(--red);\n margin-bottom: 0.6rem;\n }\n\n .box-assessment p {\n font-size: 14px;\n color: var(--mid);\n margin: 0;\n line-height: 1.65;\n }\n\n .box-insider {\n background: #fff8f7;\n border: 1px solid #f5c6c2;\n border-radius: 4px;\n padding: 1rem 1.25rem;\n margin: 1.75rem 0;\n }\n\n .box-insider .box-label {\n font-size: 10px;\n font-weight: 600;\n letter-spacing: 0.1em;\n text-transform: uppercase;\n color: var(--red);\n margin-bottom: 0.6rem;\n }\n\n .box-insider p {\n font-size: 14px;\n color: var(--mid);\n margin: 0;\n line-height: 1.65;\n }\n\n .box-keyfact {\n background: var(--light);\n border-top: 2px solid var(--dark);\n border-bottom: 1px solid var(--border);\n padding: 1rem 1.25rem;\n margin: 1.75rem 0;\n }\n\n .box-keyfact .box-label {\n font-size: 10px;\n font-weight: 600;\n letter-spacing: 0.1em;\n text-transform: uppercase;\n color: var(--dark);\n margin-bottom: 0.5rem;\n }\n\n .box-keyfact p {\n font-size: 14px;\n color: var(--mid);\n margin: 0;\n line-height: 1.65;\n }\n\n \/* \u2500\u2500 Read more links \u2500\u2500 *\/\n .read-more {\n font-size: 13px;\n color: var(--muted);\n margin: 0.4rem 0;\n }\n\n .read-more a {\n color: var(--red);\n text-decoration: none;\n }\n\n .read-more a:hover { text-decoration: underline; }\n\n .read-more::before {\n content: \"\u2192 \";\n color: var(--red);\n }\n\n \/* \u2500\u2500 Divider \u2500\u2500 *\/\n hr {\n border: none;\n border-top: 1px solid var(--border);\n margin: 2rem 0;\n }\n<\/style>\n<\/head>\n<body>\n<article class=\"article-wrap\">\n\n <p class=\"article-deck\">A comprehensive guide to the world’s most secretive dynasty \u2014 built from Daily NK’s exclusive network of in-country sources and North Korean defectors<\/p>\n\n <p class=\"article-meta\"><strong>Daily NK Editorial Staff<\/strong> | May 29, 2026 | Updated with the latest reporting from inside North Korea<\/p>\n\n <div class=\"methodology-box\">\n <p class=\"box-label\">📡 Daily NK Reporting Methodology<\/p>\n <p>Daily NK is unique among international media: since 2004, our Seoul-based newsroom has cultivated an exclusive network of confidential sources still living inside North Korea as well as defectors who recently escaped the regime. Information about the Kim family \u2014 especially anything touching succession, the leader’s personal life, or his relatives \u2014 is among the most tightly guarded in the world. What you read in this article reflects years of painstaking reporting from those rare insiders willing to risk everything to get the truth out.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n <nav class=\"toc\" aria-label=\"Contents\">\n <div class=\"toc-title\">Contents<\/div>\n <ol>\n <li><a href=\"#background\">Kim Jong Un’s family background and family tree<\/a><\/li>\n <li><a href=\"#father\">His father \u2014 Kim Jong Il<\/a><\/li>\n <li><a href=\"#mother\">His mother \u2014 Ko Young Hee<\/a><\/li>\n <li><a href=\"#brother\">His brother \u2014 Kim Jong Nam<\/a><\/li>\n <li><a href=\"#family-tree\">The Kim family tree: North Korea’s ruling bloodline<\/a><\/li>\n <li><a href=\"#wife\">Kim Jong Un’s wife \u2014 Ri Sol Ju<\/a><\/li>\n <li><a href=\"#children\">Kim Jong Un’s children<\/a><\/li>\n <li><a href=\"#daughter\">Kim Jong Un’s daughter \u2014 Kim Ju Ae<\/a><\/li>\n <li><a href=\"#sister\">Kim Jong Un’s sister \u2014 Kim Yo Jong<\/a><\/li>\n <\/ol>\n <\/nav>\n\n <p>North Korea is the world’s most opaque state \u2014 and nowhere is that secrecy more extreme than when it comes to the personal lives of the Kim family. The ruling dynasty, now in its third generation of power since Kim Il Sung founded the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in 1948, has cultivated an almost mythological mystique. Ordinary North Koreans are expected to revere the Kim family as near-divine figures; knowing too much about their private lives, weaknesses, or family dramas could itself be considered a thought crime.<\/p>\n\n <p>Yet thanks to Daily NK’s exclusive network of sources still operating inside the country and defectors who have escaped, we know more about Kim Jong Un’s family than Pyongyang would ever want the world to know. What follows is the most complete, sourced guide available anywhere to the Kim dynasty’s inner circle \u2014 his wife, his children, his daughter who may one day rule, his feared sister, and the mother whose memory the regime has tried to erase.<\/p>\n\n <h2 id=\"background\">Kim Jong Un’s Family Background and Family Tree<\/h2>\n\n <p>Kim Jong Un was born around 1984 \u2014 the exact date remains uncertain even to outside analysts, a telling detail about just how little the regime shares. He is the third son of former Supreme Leader Kim Jong Il and Ko Young Hee, a dancer-turned-consort who was never publicly acknowledged as a wife during her lifetime. He rose to power in December 2011 following his father’s death, and has since consolidated the most absolute personal rule seen in North Korea since its founding.<\/p>\n\n <p>The Kim family’s grip on power is enforced not just through fear, but through a carefully managed mythology. Daily NK sources inside North Korea have reported that citizens are taught from birth that the Kim bloodline \u2014 rooted in the sacred Paektu Mountain \u2014 carries a revolutionary and almost supernatural legitimacy. The Kim family’s complicated private history, however, carries its own internal tensions: as Daily NK has reported, the circumstances of Kim Jong Un’s birth \u2014 to a mother who was not Kim Jong Il’s formal wife \u2014 is a source of ongoing political sensitivity inside the regime.<\/p>\n\n <p class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/family-shame-explains-why-kim-jong\/\">Family shame explains why Kim Jong Un’s birthday is still not a holiday \u2014 Daily NK<\/a><\/p>\n\n <h2 id=\"father\">Kim Jong Un’s Father \u2014 Kim Jong Il and the Kim Dynasty<\/h2>\n\n <p>Kim Jong Il ruled North Korea from 1994 until his death from a heart attack in December 2011. He was himself the son of founding leader Kim Il Sung, who established the family dynasty. Kim Jong Il was one of the world’s most reclusive heads of state \u2014 he did not give a single press conference in his entire tenure as Supreme Leader \u2014 and he passed on that culture of radical secrecy to his son. The nuclear legacies of both Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il continue to shape Kim Jong Un’s strategic calculations today.<\/p>\n\n <p>Kim Jong Il had several relationships with women who were never publicly acknowledged. Ko Young Hee, the mother of Kim Jong Un, was his third known consort. Kim Jong Il also had children with earlier companions, including Kim Jong Nam, his eldest son from a relationship with Song Hye Rim, and Kim Jong Chul, his second son with Ko Young Hee. Kim Jong Un was chosen as successor in part because he was seen as the most capable and most willing to maintain the family’s iron grip on power.<\/p>\n\n <p class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/the-nuclear-legacies-of-kim-il-sung-and-kim-jong-il\/\">The nuclear legacies of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il \u2014 Daily NK<\/a><\/p>\n <p class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-korea-quietly-promotes-kim-j\/\">North Korea quietly promotes Kim Jong Un to ‘Third General,’ replacing his grandmother Kim Jong Suk \u2014 Daily NK<\/a><\/p>\n\n <h2 id=\"mother\">Kim Jong Un’s Mother \u2014 Ko Young Hee<\/h2>\n\n <p>Ko Young Hee is among the most sensitive figures in all of North Korean politics \u2014 so sensitive, in fact, that Daily NK was the first media outlet to uncover a rare image of her, given that the regime has systematically erased her from official records. She was born in Osaka, Japan, in 1952, to an ethnic Korean family. Her father later moved the family to North Korea as part of a post-war repatriation program. Ko became a celebrated dancer with the Mansudae Art Troupe, where she met Kim Jong Il and became his consort.<\/p>\n\n <p>Her Japanese birth is the central political liability. Under North Korea’s rigid <em>songbun<\/em> (class background) caste system, her origins in Japan \u2014 a country that colonized and brutalized Korea \u2014 placed her in an extremely low social category. The regime has gone to extraordinary lengths to suppress knowledge of this. Daily NK sources inside the country have reported that any discussion of Ko Young Hee’s Japanese background among North Korean citizens is treated as a political offense. Ko Young Hee died in Paris in August 2004 following cancer treatment, though even this was not publicly acknowledged by the North Korean state for years.<\/p>\n\n <div class=\"box-insider\">\n <p class=\"box-label\">🔎 From Our Sources Inside North Korea<\/p>\n <p>Daily NK’s contacts within North Korea have confirmed that Ko Young Hee is referred to by carefully constructed official honorifics \u2014 “The Respected Mother” or “The Mother of Pyongyang” \u2014 with no mention of her real name or her origins. Citizens who ask questions about her background risk serious consequences.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n <p class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/ko-young-hee-image-uncovered\/\">Ko Young Hee image uncovered \u2014 Daily NK (exclusive)<\/a><\/p>\n <p class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/family-shame-explains-why-kim-jong\/\">Family shame explains why Kim Jong Un’s birthday is still not a holiday \u2014 Daily NK<\/a><\/p>\n\n <h2 id=\"brother\">Kim Jong Un’s Brother \u2014 What Happened to Kim Jong Nam?<\/h2>\n\n <p>Kim Jong Nam was Kim Jong Un’s elder half-brother \u2014 the eldest son of Kim Jong Il from his relationship with actress Song Hye Rim \u2014 and for a time was considered the likely heir to the North Korean throne. He fell dramatically from grace in 2001 after being caught attempting to enter Japan on a forged passport, reportedly to visit Tokyo Disneyland. He subsequently spent years living in Macau and China under unofficial Chinese protection, making occasional public statements that were often critical of the Kim regime and of hereditary succession.<\/p>\n\n <p>On February 13, 2017, Kim Jong Nam was assassinated at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia. He was approached by two women who smeared VX nerve agent \u2014 a weapon of mass destruction banned under international law \u2014 directly onto his face. He died within minutes. Daily NK reported in depth on Kim Jong Nam’s assassination by VX nerve agent and its connection to earlier regime operations, while a separate Daily NK report detailed how North Korea was ultimately unable to cover up its own role despite elaborate denials.<\/p>\n\n <p>Daily NK’s reporting on the details of the assassination revealed unprecedented methods that pointed directly to state-ordered execution. The news of his death spread rapidly through informal channels inside North Korea, according to Daily NK’s in-country sources \u2014 a rare crack of outside information penetrating the regime’s information blackout. Daily NK also reported on what became of Kim Jong Nam’s body after Malaysia eventually released it to North Korean authorities.<\/p>\n\n <div class=\"box-keyfact\">\n <p class=\"box-label\">Key fact<\/p>\n <p>Kim Jong Nam reportedly sent a personal letter to Kim Jong Un in 2012 pleading for his life to be spared. According to South Korean intelligence, this plea went unanswered. He left behind a son, Kim Han Sol, whose current whereabouts and safety remain a matter of international concern.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n <p class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/kim-jong-nams-assassination-by-vx\/\">Kim Jong Nam’s assassination by VX and the ‘Sunchon Incident’ of 1989 \u2014 Daily NK<\/a><\/p>\n <p class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/details-of-kim-jong-nams-assassina\/\">Details of Kim Jong Nam’s assassination suggest unprecedented methods \u2014 Daily NK<\/a><\/p>\n <p class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/knockon-effects-of-kim-jong-nam-as\/\">North Korea’s Kim Jong Nam mission is not yet complete \u2014 Daily NK<\/a><\/p>\n <p class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/the-strange-family-of-kim-jong-nam\/\">The strange family of Kim Jong Nam \u2014 Daily NK<\/a><\/p>\n\n <h2 id=\"family-tree\">The Kim Family Tree: North Korea’s Ruling Bloodline Explained<\/h2>\n\n <p>Three generations of the Kim family have ruled North Korea without interruption since 1948 \u2014 a dynastic continuity unmatched in the modern world outside of hereditary monarchies. The regime refers to this as the “Paektu bloodline,” invoking the sacred Korean mountain as a symbol of revolutionary purity and nationalist destiny. Kim Il Sung founded the state; Kim Jong Il inherited it; and Kim Jong Un now leads it \u2014 with mounting evidence that he is preparing his own daughter, Kim Ju Ae, to become the world’s first fourth-generation communist dictator.<\/p>\n\n <p>The family tree is complicated by the regime’s history of keeping multiple relationships and children hidden. Kim Jong Un has a full brother, Kim Jong Chul (also born to Ko Young Hee), who has been deemed unsuitable for leadership and largely stays out of public life \u2014 reportedly more interested in attending Eric Clapton concerts abroad than in wielding political power. Kim Jong Un’s full sister, Kim Yo Jong, is perhaps the most powerful person in North Korea after the Supreme Leader himself. The bloodline’s continuation now appears to rest on Kim Ju Ae, the only child Kim Jong Un has ever publicly presented to the world.<\/p>\n\n <p class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/spin-the-successor-merrygoround\/\">Spin the successor merry-go-round \u2014 Daily NK<\/a><\/p>\n\n <h2 id=\"wife\">Kim Jong Un’s Wife \u2014 Ri Sol Ju<\/h2>\n\n <h3>Who is Kim Jong Un’s wife?<\/h3>\n\n <p>Ri Sol Ju is the wife of Kim Jong Un and North Korea’s de facto First Lady \u2014 a title that carries real symbolic weight in a country where her predecessors were kept almost entirely invisible. She is the daughter of a professor and a gynecologist from Pyongyang’s privileged elite class. Before her marriage, she was reportedly a student at Kim Il Sung University and is believed to have previously been a singer with the elite Unhasu Orchestra. Daily NK reported on the connection between Ri Sol Ju and the Unhasu Orchestra, noting that regime officials reportedly worked to erase evidence of her performing career after her marriage was made public.<\/p>\n\n <p>Daily NK analyzed how Ri Sol Ju and Kim Yo Jong together represented a new era of women in high-profile government roles in North Korea \u2014 a striking shift from the near-total invisibility of previous first ladies. Ri has accompanied Kim Jong Un to historic diplomatic meetings, including the 2018 inter-Korean summit and state visits to China. Her official title was elevated to “Respected First Lady” (\uc874\uacbd\ud558\ub294 \ub140\uc0ac) in April 2018, the first time that designation had been used since 1974.<\/p>\n\n <h3>How old is Kim Jong Un’s wife, Ri Sol Ju?<\/h3>\n\n <p>Ri Sol Ju’s exact birth date remains unconfirmed, a testament to North Korea’s compulsive secrecy even about the most basic biographical details of the ruling family. Outside analysts and South Korean intelligence estimate she was born somewhere between 1985 and 1989, putting her in her late 30s or early 40s as of 2026. Daily NK tracked her public appearances and noted shifts in her appearance over the years, while another Daily NK report covered her reappearance after a nine-month public absence \u2014 one of several prolonged disappearances that have fueled speculation about her health and status.<\/p>\n\n <h3>How did Kim Jong Un and Ri Sol Ju get married?<\/h3>\n\n <p>According to reporting by South Korean intelligence and corroborated by Daily NK’s sources, Kim Jong Il arranged the marriage between Kim Jong Un and Ri Sol Ju in 2009, reportedly in a rush following Kim Jong Il’s stroke in 2008. The elder Kim had begun urgently managing his son’s succession and apparently decided that having a wife would help legitimize Kim Jong Un as a mature, stable leader. The marriage was kept entirely secret until July 2012, when North Korean state media casually identified the woman accompanying Kim Jong Un at a gala concert as “his wife, Comrade Ri Sol Ju” \u2014 shocking observers and signaling that Kim Jong Un intended to project a different, more open public image than his famously reclusive father.<\/p>\n\n <h3>Kim Jong Un’s wife and daughter: when do they appear together in public?<\/h3>\n\n <p>From 2012 to roughly 2023, Ri Sol Ju regularly appeared alongside Kim Jong Un at major state events, diplomatic engagements, and cultural performances. But since early 2024, she has been largely absent from public view, replaced at Kim Jong Un’s side by their daughter, Kim Ju Ae. Daily NK reported on Ri Sol Ju retreating into the shadows as Kim Yo Jong \u2014 and later Kim Ju Ae \u2014 took increasingly prominent roles beside the leader. South Korean intelligence confirmed to lawmakers in 2025 that Ri’s absence was not due to illness or a change in status, but rather appears to be a deliberate strategic decision to keep the spotlight exclusively on Kim Ju Ae as the heir apparent.<\/p>\n\n <p>Ri Sol Ju’s most notable recent joint public appearance with her daughter came in June 2025, when she attended the completion ceremony for the Wonsan-Kalma beach resort complex \u2014 her first public appearance in roughly 18 months. Photographs showed Ri standing slightly behind Kim Jong Un and Kim Ju Ae, reinforcing a pattern Daily NK has documented: the First Lady’s role appears to be increasingly ceremonial and background, while Ju Ae takes the foreground.<\/p>\n\n <p class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/ri-in-the-shadows-as-kim-yo-jong-r\/\">Ri Sol Ju, Kim Yo Jong leading a new era of women in government in North Korea? \u2014 Daily NK<\/a><\/p>\n <p class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/ri-sol-ju-returns-to-public-eye\/\">Ri Sol Ju returns to public eye \u2014 Daily NK<\/a><\/p>\n <p class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/ri-sol-ju-appears-in-muted-attire\/\">Ri Sol Ju appears in muted attire after nine months of public absence \u2014 Daily NK<\/a><\/p>\n\n <h2 id=\"children\">Kim Jong Un’s Children \u2014 How Many Does He Have?<\/h2>\n\n <h3>How many children does Kim Jong Un have?<\/h3>\n\n <p>Kim Jong Un is believed to have three children with Ri Sol Ju, though the North Korean regime has never officially confirmed the existence of any of them. South Korean intelligence, drawing on defector testimony and intercepts, believes the first child \u2014 possibly a son \u2014 was born around 2010, followed by a daughter (almost certainly Kim Ju Ae) born around 2012\u20132013, and a third child of unspecified gender born in early 2017. Only one child, Kim Ju Ae, has ever been publicly introduced.<\/p>\n\n <h3>Does Kim Jong Un have a son?<\/h3>\n\n <p>There is credible intelligence suggesting Kim Jong Un has at least one son, though no son has ever appeared in public. A North Korean insider source cited by South Korean media in 2025 stated that “Kim Ju Ae has a younger brother.” South Korean intelligence has told lawmakers that Kim Jong Un is believed to have an older son (likely the first-born child) as well as a younger sibling of Ju Ae. However, Daily NK’s sources inside North Korea have not been able to independently verify the sons’ names, ages, or current roles within the regime’s succession planning. The possibility that Kim Jong Un is deliberately keeping a male heir hidden \u2014 as insurance against political threats to Ju Ae \u2014 cannot be dismissed.<\/p>\n\n <h3>What are the names of Kim Jong Un’s children?<\/h3>\n\n <p>The only confirmed name among Kim Jong Un’s children is Kim Ju Ae \u2014 and even that confirmation came not from Pyongyang but from former NBA star Dennis Rodman, who visited North Korea in 2013 and told <em>The Guardian<\/em> that he had held the couple’s baby daughter, whose name was Ju Ae. North Korean state media has never printed her name, referring to her exclusively as Kim Jong Un’s “most beloved daughter” or “respected child.” The names of the other children, if they exist, remain entirely unknown. Daily NK’s contacts inside the country have not been able to uncover their identities \u2014 a measure of just how tightly this information is guarded at the highest levels of the regime.<\/p>\n\n <div class=\"box-insider\">\n <p class=\"box-label\">📡 Daily NK Insider Intelligence<\/p>\n <p>Our sources within North Korea report that even mid-level party officials are not briefed on the number, names, or ages of Kim Jong Un’s children. This information is restricted to the innermost circle of the Supreme Leader’s personal household \u2014 making it among the most closely guarded secrets in one of the world’s most secretive states.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n <h2 id=\"daughter\">Kim Jong Un’s Daughter \u2014 Kim Ju Ae<\/h2>\n\n <h3>What is Kim Jong Un’s daughter’s name?<\/h3>\n\n <p>Kim Jong Un’s daughter is believed to be named Kim Ju Ae (\uae40\uc8fc\uc560). The name was first publicly revealed by Dennis Rodman in September 2013. North Korean state media has still never confirmed it \u2014 a deliberate choice that maintains regime control over even the most basic information about the leader’s family. South Korean intelligence analysts and outside experts universally use the name Kim Ju Ae, while noting that its romanization may also appear as Kim Ju-ae or Kim Chu-ae.<\/p>\n\n <h3>How old is Kim Jong Un’s daughter in 2026?<\/h3>\n\n <p>South Korean intelligence and outside analysts believe Kim Ju Ae was born in 2013, making her approximately 12 to 13 years old in 2026. She has never had her age confirmed by North Korean state media. Her birth year is estimated based on Dennis Rodman’s 2013 account of holding a baby daughter, combined with South Korean intelligence analysis of her physical appearance in state media photographs. Her relative youth has not stopped the regime from presenting her as a political figure of growing gravity \u2014 she has appeared at ICBM launches, military parades, state banquets, and in 2025 made her international debut when she traveled with Kim Jong Un to Beijing for a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping.<\/p>\n\n <h3>Photos of Kim Jong Un’s daughter: what has she been seen doing?<\/h3>\n\n <p>Kim Ju Ae first appeared publicly in November 2022, holding her father’s hand as he oversaw the launch of the Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile \u2014 a deliberate debut in the heart of the regime’s most powerful propaganda symbol. Since then, she has appeared at military parades, weapons tests, state banquets, factory visits, New Year’s celebrations, and a visit to the sacred Kumsusan Palace of the Sun mausoleum in January 2026. She has been photographed firing a sniper rifle, sitting in the driver’s seat of a tank, and wearing a black leather jacket nearly identical to her father’s \u2014 the same jacket Kim Jong Un uses to project military authority.<\/p>\n\n <p>In September 2025, she accompanied Kim Jong Un to Beijing for his first known multilateral summit \u2014 China’s “Victory Day” commemoration \u2014 marking her international debut and sending a clear signal to foreign governments about her elevated status. South Korea’s National Intelligence Service subsequently briefed lawmakers that this trip was intended to give Ju Ae “overseas experience” and “cement her status as his likely heir.”<\/p>\n\n <p>In February 2026, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) told lawmakers in a closed-door briefing that Kim Ju Ae had moved beyond merely being “in training” for succession \u2014 she had reached the stage of being “successor-designate.” The NIS said Kim Jong Un was now actively consulting his teenage daughter on policy decisions. Lawmakers who attended the briefing described this as a “considerable shift” in intelligence assessments.<\/p>\n\n <p>The signals embedded in North Korean state media reinforce this conclusion. Photographs of Ju Ae have shown her being framed at the center of group images \u2014 with Kim Jong Un placed to her side, not the reverse. She is frequently photographed from low angles, a technique North Korean state photographers traditionally reserve for figures of supreme authority. Officials around her are captured taking notes while she observes, mirroring the protocol normally reserved for the Supreme Leader. The title “great person of guidance” \u2014 historically used only for Kim Jong Un \u2014 has been applied to Ju Ae in state media.<\/p>\n\n <div class=\"box-by-numbers\">\n <p class=\"box-label\">By the numbers<\/p>\n <p class=\"box-title\">Kim Ju Ae’s public appearances<\/p>\n <div class=\"stats\">\n <strong>2022:<\/strong> 2 <span style=\"font-size:12px;\">(debut year)<\/span> | \n <strong>2023:<\/strong> 18 | \n <strong>2024:<\/strong> 13 | \n <strong>2025:<\/strong> 17 | \n <strong>2026:<\/strong> 13 by March\n <\/div>\n <p class=\"footnote\">Already on pace to surpass all previous years, with 13 appearances by March alone, according to analysis by South Korean media of KCNA reporting.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n <h3>What do North Koreans think about Kim Jong Un’s daughter?<\/h3>\n\n <p>This is perhaps the most difficult question to answer \u2014 and the question where Daily NK’s unique access to sources inside North Korea is most valuable. Official North Korean society is required to express reverence for Ju Ae, who is described in state media as the “most cherished” child. But what do ordinary citizens actually think?<\/p>\n\n <p>Daily NK’s in-country sources indicate a complex picture. Among the elite in Pyongyang, there is genuine curiosity \u2014 and some quiet admiration \u2014 for the young girl who appears so confident beside her father on the world stage. Among ordinary citizens outside the capital, awareness of her existence is more limited; state media coverage is tightly controlled, and many North Koreans outside the elite have limited access to television or newspapers. A deeper undercurrent noted by defectors is one of quiet bewilderment: North Korea’s deeply patriarchal culture has never had a female ruler, and the prospect of a girl barely into her teens ascending to the Supreme Leadership is genuinely unprecedented. As one defector told researchers: “People say what they are supposed to say. What they think is another matter entirely.”<\/p>\n\n <div class=\"box-insider\">\n <p class=\"box-label\">📡 Daily NK Exclusive: Sources inside North Korea on Kim Ju Ae<\/p>\n <p>Daily NK’s in-country contacts \u2014 individuals with access to elite circles in Pyongyang \u2014 report that awareness of Kim Ju Ae as a potential successor is growing at the upper levels of the party, but discussion of the topic in anything other than reverential terms is strictly forbidden. Officials who have expressed even mild skepticism in private have reportedly been subject to surveillance and “guidance.” The regime is aware of the cultural barriers a female successor would face \u2014 and appears to be working methodically to build Ju Ae’s legitimacy well in advance.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n <h2 id=\"sister\">Kim Jong Un’s Sister \u2014 Kim Yo Jong<\/h2>\n\n <h3>Who is Kim Jong Un’s sister, Kim Yo Jong?<\/h3>\n\n <p>Kim Yo Jong is Kim Jong Un’s younger full sister \u2014 born in 1987 or 1988 to Kim Jong Il and Ko Young Hee \u2014 and is widely regarded as the second most powerful person in North Korea. For years she operated largely behind the scenes as her brother’s closest political confidante, but she has increasingly emerged as the regime’s most aggressive and visible spokesperson, particularly on matters of foreign policy. Daily NK traced her rise to power in a detailed analysis that drew on both defector accounts and close reading of North Korean state media. She is described by defectors who knew her circle as highly intelligent, operationally ruthless, and fiercely loyal to her brother \u2014 though with strong views of her own.<\/p>\n\n <p>She holds multiple positions within the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK). As of 2026, she serves as Director of the General Affairs Department of the WPK \u2014 a promotion announced at the Party Congress in February 2026 \u2014 and retains her role overseeing the Propaganda and Agitation Department (PAD), the nerve center of North Korea’s information and ideological control apparatus.<\/p>\n\n <h3>How much power does Kim Jong Un’s sister have in North Korea?<\/h3>\n\n <p>Kim Yo Jong’s power is difficult to overstate. She has become the regime’s primary voice for threatening South Korea, the United States, and Japan \u2014 issuing statements in her own name that carry the weight of official policy. She was the first North Korean official to directly engage with the concept of US-North Korea talks, and her statements are parsed by intelligence agencies worldwide for signs of Pyongyang’s intentions.<\/p>\n\n <p>As Daily NK documented, Kim Yo Jong’s ascent came in tandem with Ri Sol Ju’s retreat from public view \u2014 suggesting a deliberate restructuring of the regime’s public face. However, with Kim Ju Ae’s emergence as the presumptive heir, some analysts now believe that Kim Yo Jong’s role has shifted from potential successor to power broker and kingmaker \u2014 or, more precisely, queenmaker. Daily NK has also reported on instances where Kim Yo Jong appears to push back on her brother’s decisions, indicating that she is not a simple instrument of Kim Jong Un’s will but a political actor in her own right.<\/p>\n\n <h3>Does Kim Jong Un’s sister have children?<\/h3>\n\n <p>Kim Yo Jong is believed to be married and to have at least two children, though North Korea has never officially disclosed any information about her personal life. In January 2025, KCTV footage from a New Year’s art performance showed Kim Yo Jong walking with two young children \u2014 a boy and a girl \u2014 sparking immediate analysis from South Korea’s National Intelligence Service. The NIS confirmed it was analyzing the footage and said the children were within the age range consistent with earlier intelligence suggesting she might have children. A North Korean defector, former diplomat Ryu Hyun-woo, later confirmed to South Korean media that he had personally met Kim Yo Jong’s husband in 2014 \u2014 describing him as tall, handsome, and dressed in military uniform.<\/p>\n\n <p>Reports suggest her husband is the son of senior official Choe Ryong-hae, though this has not been independently confirmed.<\/p>\n\n <h3>Could Kim Yo Jong succeed Kim Jong Un as leader?<\/h3>\n\n <p>For several years, Kim Yo Jong was considered the most likely successor to her brother if he died or became incapacitated without having groomed a child successor. She has the ideological authority, the institutional knowledge, the family credentials, and the demonstrated ruthlessness to hold power.<\/p>\n\n <p>However, with Kim Ju Ae’s formal elevation to “successor-designate” status in 2026, most analysts now believe Kim Yo Jong’s role has shifted. North Korea’s deeply patriarchal political culture would likely make it far easier to legitimize a child of the Supreme Leader \u2014 even a daughter \u2014 than a sibling who carries a different surname. If Kim Ju Ae is formally designated heir during the Workers’ Party Congress or in state media, Kim Yo Jong’s succession path would effectively close. As Daily NK’s analysis of Kim Yo Jong’s political trajectory has made clear, she remains one of the most consequential \u2014 and most dangerous \u2014 political figures on earth, regardless of what role she plays in North Korea’s future.<\/p>\n\n <p class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/kim-yo-jongs-rise-to-power-in-the\/\">Kim Yo Jong’s rise to power in the era of Kim Jong Un \u2014 Daily NK<\/a><\/p>\n <p class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/kim-yo-jong-in-de-facto-power-of-p\/\">Kim Yo Jong in de facto power of PAD \u2014 Daily NK<\/a><\/p>\n <p class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/ri-in-the-shadows-as-kim-yo-jong-r\/\">Ri Sol Ju, Kim Yo Jong leading a new era of women in government in North Korea? \u2014 Daily NK<\/a><\/p>\n\n<\/article>\n<\/body>\n<\/html>\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kim Jong Un’s Family: Wife, Daughter, Children, Sister, and Mother \u2014 Daily NK A comprehensive guide to the world’s most secretive dynasty \u2014 built from Daily NK’s exclusive network of in-country sources and North Korean defectors Daily NK Editorial Staff | May 29, 2026 | Updated with the latest reporting from inside North Korea 📡 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":134,"featured_media":324420,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"wikipediapreview_detectlinks":true,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-324559","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail"],"yoast_head":"\n<title>Kim Jong Un's Family: Wife, Daughter, Sister & Children | Daily NK<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Who is Kim Jong Un's wife, daughter, and sister? 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{"id":324559,"date":"2026-05-29T12:49:32","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T03:49:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/?page_id=324559"},"modified":"2026-05-29T13:04:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T04:04:00","slug":"kim-jong-un-family-wife-daughter-children-sister-mother-everything-we-need-to-know","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/kim-jong-un-family-wife-daughter-children-sister-mother-everything-we-need-to-know\/","title":{"rendered":"Kim Jong Un’s Family: His Wife, Daughter, Children, Sister, and Mother \u2014 Everything We Know"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n\nKim Jong Un’s Family: Wife, Daughter, Children, Sister, and Mother \u2014 Daily NK<\/title>\n<link href=\"https:\/\/fonts.googleapis.com\/css2?family=Libre+Baskerville:ital,wght@0,400;0,700;1,400&family=Source+Sans+3:wght@400;500;600&display=swap\" rel=\"stylesheet\">\n<style>\n *, *::before, *::after { box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0; padding: 0; }\n\n :root {\n --red: #c0392b;\n --red-light: #fdf2f1;\n --dark: #1a1a1a;\n --mid: #444;\n --muted: #666;\n --light: #f5f4f0;\n --border: #e0ddd6;\n --white: #fff;\n --max: 740px;\n }\n\n body {\n font-family: 'Source Sans 3', sans-serif;\n font-size: 17px;\n line-height: 1.75;\n color: var(--dark);\n background: var(--white);\n padding: 0 1rem;\n }\n\n .article-wrap {\n max-width: var(--max);\n margin: 0 auto;\n padding: 2.5rem 0 4rem;\n }\n\n \/* \u2500\u2500 Header \u2500\u2500 *\/\n .article-label {\n font-size: 11px;\n font-weight: 600;\n letter-spacing: 0.1em;\n text-transform: uppercase;\n color: var(--red);\n margin-bottom: 0.75rem;\n }\n\n h1 {\n font-family: 'Libre Baskerville', Georgia, serif;\n font-size: clamp(1.6rem, 4vw, 2.2rem);\n font-weight: 700;\n line-height: 1.25;\n color: var(--dark);\n margin-bottom: 1rem;\n }\n\n .article-deck {\n font-size: 1.05rem;\n color: var(--muted);\n line-height: 1.6;\n margin-bottom: 1.25rem;\n border-bottom: 1px solid var(--border);\n padding-bottom: 1.25rem;\n }\n\n .article-meta {\n font-size: 13px;\n color: var(--muted);\n margin-bottom: 2rem;\n }\n\n .article-meta strong {\n color: var(--dark);\n font-weight: 600;\n }\n\n \/* \u2500\u2500 Methodology box \u2500\u2500 *\/\n .methodology-box {\n background: var(--light);\n border-left: 3px solid var(--red);\n border-radius: 0 4px 4px 0;\n padding: 1rem 1.25rem;\n margin-bottom: 2.5rem;\n font-size: 14px;\n color: var(--mid);\n line-height: 1.6;\n }\n\n .methodology-box .box-label {\n font-size: 10px;\n font-weight: 600;\n letter-spacing: 0.1em;\n text-transform: uppercase;\n color: var(--red);\n margin-bottom: 0.4rem;\n }\n\n \/* \u2500\u2500 TOC \u2500\u2500 *\/\n .toc {\n margin-bottom: 2.5rem;\n border-top: 2px solid var(--dark);\n border-bottom: 1px solid var(--border);\n padding: 0.9rem 0 1rem;\n }\n\n .toc-title {\n font-size: 11px;\n font-weight: 600;\n letter-spacing: 0.08em;\n text-transform: uppercase;\n color: var(--muted);\n margin-bottom: 0.6rem;\n }\n\n .toc ol {\n padding-left: 1.4rem;\n font-size: 15px;\n line-height: 1.5;\n margin: 0;\n }\n\n .toc li { margin-bottom: 0.3rem; 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}\n\n .box-by-numbers .footnote {\n font-size: 13px;\n color: var(--muted);\n border-top: 1px solid var(--border);\n padding-top: 0.6rem;\n margin-top: 0.25rem;\n }\n\n .box-assessment {\n border: 1px solid var(--red);\n border-radius: 4px;\n padding: 1rem 1.25rem;\n margin: 1.75rem 0;\n }\n\n .box-assessment .box-label {\n font-size: 10px;\n font-weight: 600;\n letter-spacing: 0.1em;\n text-transform: uppercase;\n color: var(--red);\n margin-bottom: 0.6rem;\n }\n\n .box-assessment p {\n font-size: 14px;\n color: var(--mid);\n margin: 0;\n line-height: 1.65;\n }\n\n .box-insider {\n background: #fff8f7;\n border: 1px solid #f5c6c2;\n border-radius: 4px;\n padding: 1rem 1.25rem;\n margin: 1.75rem 0;\n }\n\n .box-insider .box-label {\n font-size: 10px;\n font-weight: 600;\n letter-spacing: 0.1em;\n text-transform: uppercase;\n color: var(--red);\n margin-bottom: 0.6rem;\n }\n\n .box-insider p {\n font-size: 14px;\n color: var(--mid);\n margin: 0;\n line-height: 1.65;\n }\n\n .box-keyfact {\n background: var(--light);\n border-top: 2px solid var(--dark);\n border-bottom: 1px solid var(--border);\n padding: 1rem 1.25rem;\n margin: 1.75rem 0;\n }\n\n .box-keyfact .box-label {\n font-size: 10px;\n font-weight: 600;\n letter-spacing: 0.1em;\n text-transform: uppercase;\n color: var(--dark);\n margin-bottom: 0.5rem;\n }\n\n .box-keyfact p {\n font-size: 14px;\n color: var(--mid);\n margin: 0;\n line-height: 1.65;\n }\n\n \/* \u2500\u2500 Read more links \u2500\u2500 *\/\n .read-more {\n font-size: 13px;\n color: var(--muted);\n margin: 0.4rem 0;\n }\n\n .read-more a {\n color: var(--red);\n text-decoration: none;\n }\n\n .read-more a:hover { text-decoration: underline; }\n\n .read-more::before {\n content: \"\u2192 \";\n color: var(--red);\n }\n\n \/* \u2500\u2500 Divider \u2500\u2500 *\/\n hr {\n border: none;\n border-top: 1px solid var(--border);\n margin: 2rem 0;\n }\n<\/style>\n<\/head>\n<body>\n<article class=\"article-wrap\">\n\n <p class=\"article-deck\">A comprehensive guide to the world’s most secretive dynasty \u2014 built from Daily NK’s exclusive network of in-country sources and North Korean defectors<\/p>\n\n <p class=\"article-meta\"><strong>Daily NK Editorial Staff<\/strong> | May 29, 2026 | Updated with the latest reporting from inside North Korea<\/p>\n\n <div class=\"methodology-box\">\n <p class=\"box-label\">📡 Daily NK Reporting Methodology<\/p>\n <p>Daily NK is unique among international media: since 2004, our Seoul-based newsroom has cultivated an exclusive network of confidential sources still living inside North Korea as well as defectors who recently escaped the regime. Information about the Kim family \u2014 especially anything touching succession, the leader’s personal life, or his relatives \u2014 is among the most tightly guarded in the world. What you read in this article reflects years of painstaking reporting from those rare insiders willing to risk everything to get the truth out.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n <nav class=\"toc\" aria-label=\"Contents\">\n <div class=\"toc-title\">Contents<\/div>\n <ol>\n <li><a href=\"#background\">Kim Jong Un’s family background and family tree<\/a><\/li>\n <li><a href=\"#father\">His father \u2014 Kim Jong Il<\/a><\/li>\n <li><a href=\"#mother\">His mother \u2014 Ko Young Hee<\/a><\/li>\n <li><a href=\"#brother\">His brother \u2014 Kim Jong Nam<\/a><\/li>\n <li><a href=\"#family-tree\">The Kim family tree: North Korea’s ruling bloodline<\/a><\/li>\n <li><a href=\"#wife\">Kim Jong Un’s wife \u2014 Ri Sol Ju<\/a><\/li>\n <li><a href=\"#children\">Kim Jong Un’s children<\/a><\/li>\n <li><a href=\"#daughter\">Kim Jong Un’s daughter \u2014 Kim Ju Ae<\/a><\/li>\n <li><a href=\"#sister\">Kim Jong Un’s sister \u2014 Kim Yo Jong<\/a><\/li>\n <\/ol>\n <\/nav>\n\n <p>North Korea is the world’s most opaque state \u2014 and nowhere is that secrecy more extreme than when it comes to the personal lives of the Kim family. The ruling dynasty, now in its third generation of power since Kim Il Sung founded the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in 1948, has cultivated an almost mythological mystique. Ordinary North Koreans are expected to revere the Kim family as near-divine figures; knowing too much about their private lives, weaknesses, or family dramas could itself be considered a thought crime.<\/p>\n\n <p>Yet thanks to Daily NK’s exclusive network of sources still operating inside the country and defectors who have escaped, we know more about Kim Jong Un’s family than Pyongyang would ever want the world to know. What follows is the most complete, sourced guide available anywhere to the Kim dynasty’s inner circle \u2014 his wife, his children, his daughter who may one day rule, his feared sister, and the mother whose memory the regime has tried to erase.<\/p>\n\n <h2 id=\"background\">Kim Jong Un’s Family Background and Family Tree<\/h2>\n\n <p>Kim Jong Un was born around 1984 \u2014 the exact date remains uncertain even to outside analysts, a telling detail about just how little the regime shares. He is the third son of former Supreme Leader Kim Jong Il and Ko Young Hee, a dancer-turned-consort who was never publicly acknowledged as a wife during her lifetime. He rose to power in December 2011 following his father’s death, and has since consolidated the most absolute personal rule seen in North Korea since its founding.<\/p>\n\n <p>The Kim family’s grip on power is enforced not just through fear, but through a carefully managed mythology. Daily NK sources inside North Korea have reported that citizens are taught from birth that the Kim bloodline \u2014 rooted in the sacred Paektu Mountain \u2014 carries a revolutionary and almost supernatural legitimacy. The Kim family’s complicated private history, however, carries its own internal tensions: as Daily NK has reported, the circumstances of Kim Jong Un’s birth \u2014 to a mother who was not Kim Jong Il’s formal wife \u2014 is a source of ongoing political sensitivity inside the regime.<\/p>\n\n <p class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/family-shame-explains-why-kim-jong\/\">Family shame explains why Kim Jong Un’s birthday is still not a holiday \u2014 Daily NK<\/a><\/p>\n\n <h2 id=\"father\">Kim Jong Un’s Father \u2014 Kim Jong Il and the Kim Dynasty<\/h2>\n\n <p>Kim Jong Il ruled North Korea from 1994 until his death from a heart attack in December 2011. He was himself the son of founding leader Kim Il Sung, who established the family dynasty. Kim Jong Il was one of the world’s most reclusive heads of state \u2014 he did not give a single press conference in his entire tenure as Supreme Leader \u2014 and he passed on that culture of radical secrecy to his son. The nuclear legacies of both Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il continue to shape Kim Jong Un’s strategic calculations today.<\/p>\n\n <p>Kim Jong Il had several relationships with women who were never publicly acknowledged. Ko Young Hee, the mother of Kim Jong Un, was his third known consort. Kim Jong Il also had children with earlier companions, including Kim Jong Nam, his eldest son from a relationship with Song Hye Rim, and Kim Jong Chul, his second son with Ko Young Hee. Kim Jong Un was chosen as successor in part because he was seen as the most capable and most willing to maintain the family’s iron grip on power.<\/p>\n\n <p class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/the-nuclear-legacies-of-kim-il-sung-and-kim-jong-il\/\">The nuclear legacies of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il \u2014 Daily NK<\/a><\/p>\n <p class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-korea-quietly-promotes-kim-j\/\">North Korea quietly promotes Kim Jong Un to ‘Third General,’ replacing his grandmother Kim Jong Suk \u2014 Daily NK<\/a><\/p>\n\n <h2 id=\"mother\">Kim Jong Un’s Mother \u2014 Ko Young Hee<\/h2>\n\n <p>Ko Young Hee is among the most sensitive figures in all of North Korean politics \u2014 so sensitive, in fact, that Daily NK was the first media outlet to uncover a rare image of her, given that the regime has systematically erased her from official records. She was born in Osaka, Japan, in 1952, to an ethnic Korean family. Her father later moved the family to North Korea as part of a post-war repatriation program. Ko became a celebrated dancer with the Mansudae Art Troupe, where she met Kim Jong Il and became his consort.<\/p>\n\n <p>Her Japanese birth is the central political liability. Under North Korea’s rigid <em>songbun<\/em> (class background) caste system, her origins in Japan \u2014 a country that colonized and brutalized Korea \u2014 placed her in an extremely low social category. The regime has gone to extraordinary lengths to suppress knowledge of this. Daily NK sources inside the country have reported that any discussion of Ko Young Hee’s Japanese background among North Korean citizens is treated as a political offense. Ko Young Hee died in Paris in August 2004 following cancer treatment, though even this was not publicly acknowledged by the North Korean state for years.<\/p>\n\n <div class=\"box-insider\">\n <p class=\"box-label\">🔎 From Our Sources Inside North Korea<\/p>\n <p>Daily NK’s contacts within North Korea have confirmed that Ko Young Hee is referred to by carefully constructed official honorifics \u2014 “The Respected Mother” or “The Mother of Pyongyang” \u2014 with no mention of her real name or her origins. Citizens who ask questions about her background risk serious consequences.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n <p class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/ko-young-hee-image-uncovered\/\">Ko Young Hee image uncovered \u2014 Daily NK (exclusive)<\/a><\/p>\n <p class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/family-shame-explains-why-kim-jong\/\">Family shame explains why Kim Jong Un’s birthday is still not a holiday \u2014 Daily NK<\/a><\/p>\n\n <h2 id=\"brother\">Kim Jong Un’s Brother \u2014 What Happened to Kim Jong Nam?<\/h2>\n\n <p>Kim Jong Nam was Kim Jong Un’s elder half-brother \u2014 the eldest son of Kim Jong Il from his relationship with actress Song Hye Rim \u2014 and for a time was considered the likely heir to the North Korean throne. He fell dramatically from grace in 2001 after being caught attempting to enter Japan on a forged passport, reportedly to visit Tokyo Disneyland. He subsequently spent years living in Macau and China under unofficial Chinese protection, making occasional public statements that were often critical of the Kim regime and of hereditary succession.<\/p>\n\n <p>On February 13, 2017, Kim Jong Nam was assassinated at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia. He was approached by two women who smeared VX nerve agent \u2014 a weapon of mass destruction banned under international law \u2014 directly onto his face. He died within minutes. Daily NK reported in depth on Kim Jong Nam’s assassination by VX nerve agent and its connection to earlier regime operations, while a separate Daily NK report detailed how North Korea was ultimately unable to cover up its own role despite elaborate denials.<\/p>\n\n <p>Daily NK’s reporting on the details of the assassination revealed unprecedented methods that pointed directly to state-ordered execution. The news of his death spread rapidly through informal channels inside North Korea, according to Daily NK’s in-country sources \u2014 a rare crack of outside information penetrating the regime’s information blackout. Daily NK also reported on what became of Kim Jong Nam’s body after Malaysia eventually released it to North Korean authorities.<\/p>\n\n <div class=\"box-keyfact\">\n <p class=\"box-label\">Key fact<\/p>\n <p>Kim Jong Nam reportedly sent a personal letter to Kim Jong Un in 2012 pleading for his life to be spared. According to South Korean intelligence, this plea went unanswered. He left behind a son, Kim Han Sol, whose current whereabouts and safety remain a matter of international concern.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n <p class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/kim-jong-nams-assassination-by-vx\/\">Kim Jong Nam’s assassination by VX and the ‘Sunchon Incident’ of 1989 \u2014 Daily NK<\/a><\/p>\n <p class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/details-of-kim-jong-nams-assassina\/\">Details of Kim Jong Nam’s assassination suggest unprecedented methods \u2014 Daily NK<\/a><\/p>\n <p class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/knockon-effects-of-kim-jong-nam-as\/\">North Korea’s Kim Jong Nam mission is not yet complete \u2014 Daily NK<\/a><\/p>\n <p class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/the-strange-family-of-kim-jong-nam\/\">The strange family of Kim Jong Nam \u2014 Daily NK<\/a><\/p>\n\n <h2 id=\"family-tree\">The Kim Family Tree: North Korea’s Ruling Bloodline Explained<\/h2>\n\n <p>Three generations of the Kim family have ruled North Korea without interruption since 1948 \u2014 a dynastic continuity unmatched in the modern world outside of hereditary monarchies. The regime refers to this as the “Paektu bloodline,” invoking the sacred Korean mountain as a symbol of revolutionary purity and nationalist destiny. Kim Il Sung founded the state; Kim Jong Il inherited it; and Kim Jong Un now leads it \u2014 with mounting evidence that he is preparing his own daughter, Kim Ju Ae, to become the world’s first fourth-generation communist dictator.<\/p>\n\n <p>The family tree is complicated by the regime’s history of keeping multiple relationships and children hidden. Kim Jong Un has a full brother, Kim Jong Chul (also born to Ko Young Hee), who has been deemed unsuitable for leadership and largely stays out of public life \u2014 reportedly more interested in attending Eric Clapton concerts abroad than in wielding political power. Kim Jong Un’s full sister, Kim Yo Jong, is perhaps the most powerful person in North Korea after the Supreme Leader himself. The bloodline’s continuation now appears to rest on Kim Ju Ae, the only child Kim Jong Un has ever publicly presented to the world.<\/p>\n\n <p class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/spin-the-successor-merrygoround\/\">Spin the successor merry-go-round \u2014 Daily NK<\/a><\/p>\n\n <h2 id=\"wife\">Kim Jong Un’s Wife \u2014 Ri Sol Ju<\/h2>\n\n <h3>Who is Kim Jong Un’s wife?<\/h3>\n\n <p>Ri Sol Ju is the wife of Kim Jong Un and North Korea’s de facto First Lady \u2014 a title that carries real symbolic weight in a country where her predecessors were kept almost entirely invisible. She is the daughter of a professor and a gynecologist from Pyongyang’s privileged elite class. Before her marriage, she was reportedly a student at Kim Il Sung University and is believed to have previously been a singer with the elite Unhasu Orchestra. Daily NK reported on the connection between Ri Sol Ju and the Unhasu Orchestra, noting that regime officials reportedly worked to erase evidence of her performing career after her marriage was made public.<\/p>\n\n <p>Daily NK analyzed how Ri Sol Ju and Kim Yo Jong together represented a new era of women in high-profile government roles in North Korea \u2014 a striking shift from the near-total invisibility of previous first ladies. Ri has accompanied Kim Jong Un to historic diplomatic meetings, including the 2018 inter-Korean summit and state visits to China. Her official title was elevated to “Respected First Lady” (\uc874\uacbd\ud558\ub294 \ub140\uc0ac) in April 2018, the first time that designation had been used since 1974.<\/p>\n\n <h3>How old is Kim Jong Un’s wife, Ri Sol Ju?<\/h3>\n\n <p>Ri Sol Ju’s exact birth date remains unconfirmed, a testament to North Korea’s compulsive secrecy even about the most basic biographical details of the ruling family. Outside analysts and South Korean intelligence estimate she was born somewhere between 1985 and 1989, putting her in her late 30s or early 40s as of 2026. Daily NK tracked her public appearances and noted shifts in her appearance over the years, while another Daily NK report covered her reappearance after a nine-month public absence \u2014 one of several prolonged disappearances that have fueled speculation about her health and status.<\/p>\n\n <h3>How did Kim Jong Un and Ri Sol Ju get married?<\/h3>\n\n <p>According to reporting by South Korean intelligence and corroborated by Daily NK’s sources, Kim Jong Il arranged the marriage between Kim Jong Un and Ri Sol Ju in 2009, reportedly in a rush following Kim Jong Il’s stroke in 2008. The elder Kim had begun urgently managing his son’s succession and apparently decided that having a wife would help legitimize Kim Jong Un as a mature, stable leader. The marriage was kept entirely secret until July 2012, when North Korean state media casually identified the woman accompanying Kim Jong Un at a gala concert as “his wife, Comrade Ri Sol Ju” \u2014 shocking observers and signaling that Kim Jong Un intended to project a different, more open public image than his famously reclusive father.<\/p>\n\n <h3>Kim Jong Un’s wife and daughter: when do they appear together in public?<\/h3>\n\n <p>From 2012 to roughly 2023, Ri Sol Ju regularly appeared alongside Kim Jong Un at major state events, diplomatic engagements, and cultural performances. But since early 2024, she has been largely absent from public view, replaced at Kim Jong Un’s side by their daughter, Kim Ju Ae. Daily NK reported on Ri Sol Ju retreating into the shadows as Kim Yo Jong \u2014 and later Kim Ju Ae \u2014 took increasingly prominent roles beside the leader. South Korean intelligence confirmed to lawmakers in 2025 that Ri’s absence was not due to illness or a change in status, but rather appears to be a deliberate strategic decision to keep the spotlight exclusively on Kim Ju Ae as the heir apparent.<\/p>\n\n <p>Ri Sol Ju’s most notable recent joint public appearance with her daughter came in June 2025, when she attended the completion ceremony for the Wonsan-Kalma beach resort complex \u2014 her first public appearance in roughly 18 months. Photographs showed Ri standing slightly behind Kim Jong Un and Kim Ju Ae, reinforcing a pattern Daily NK has documented: the First Lady’s role appears to be increasingly ceremonial and background, while Ju Ae takes the foreground.<\/p>\n\n <p class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/ri-in-the-shadows-as-kim-yo-jong-r\/\">Ri Sol Ju, Kim Yo Jong leading a new era of women in government in North Korea? \u2014 Daily NK<\/a><\/p>\n <p class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/ri-sol-ju-returns-to-public-eye\/\">Ri Sol Ju returns to public eye \u2014 Daily NK<\/a><\/p>\n <p class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/ri-sol-ju-appears-in-muted-attire\/\">Ri Sol Ju appears in muted attire after nine months of public absence \u2014 Daily NK<\/a><\/p>\n\n <h2 id=\"children\">Kim Jong Un’s Children \u2014 How Many Does He Have?<\/h2>\n\n <h3>How many children does Kim Jong Un have?<\/h3>\n\n <p>Kim Jong Un is believed to have three children with Ri Sol Ju, though the North Korean regime has never officially confirmed the existence of any of them. South Korean intelligence, drawing on defector testimony and intercepts, believes the first child \u2014 possibly a son \u2014 was born around 2010, followed by a daughter (almost certainly Kim Ju Ae) born around 2012\u20132013, and a third child of unspecified gender born in early 2017. Only one child, Kim Ju Ae, has ever been publicly introduced.<\/p>\n\n <h3>Does Kim Jong Un have a son?<\/h3>\n\n <p>There is credible intelligence suggesting Kim Jong Un has at least one son, though no son has ever appeared in public. A North Korean insider source cited by South Korean media in 2025 stated that “Kim Ju Ae has a younger brother.” South Korean intelligence has told lawmakers that Kim Jong Un is believed to have an older son (likely the first-born child) as well as a younger sibling of Ju Ae. However, Daily NK’s sources inside North Korea have not been able to independently verify the sons’ names, ages, or current roles within the regime’s succession planning. The possibility that Kim Jong Un is deliberately keeping a male heir hidden \u2014 as insurance against political threats to Ju Ae \u2014 cannot be dismissed.<\/p>\n\n <h3>What are the names of Kim Jong Un’s children?<\/h3>\n\n <p>The only confirmed name among Kim Jong Un’s children is Kim Ju Ae \u2014 and even that confirmation came not from Pyongyang but from former NBA star Dennis Rodman, who visited North Korea in 2013 and told <em>The Guardian<\/em> that he had held the couple’s baby daughter, whose name was Ju Ae. North Korean state media has never printed her name, referring to her exclusively as Kim Jong Un’s “most beloved daughter” or “respected child.” The names of the other children, if they exist, remain entirely unknown. Daily NK’s contacts inside the country have not been able to uncover their identities \u2014 a measure of just how tightly this information is guarded at the highest levels of the regime.<\/p>\n\n <div class=\"box-insider\">\n <p class=\"box-label\">📡 Daily NK Insider Intelligence<\/p>\n <p>Our sources within North Korea report that even mid-level party officials are not briefed on the number, names, or ages of Kim Jong Un’s children. This information is restricted to the innermost circle of the Supreme Leader’s personal household \u2014 making it among the most closely guarded secrets in one of the world’s most secretive states.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n <h2 id=\"daughter\">Kim Jong Un’s Daughter \u2014 Kim Ju Ae<\/h2>\n\n <h3>What is Kim Jong Un’s daughter’s name?<\/h3>\n\n <p>Kim Jong Un’s daughter is believed to be named Kim Ju Ae (\uae40\uc8fc\uc560). The name was first publicly revealed by Dennis Rodman in September 2013. North Korean state media has still never confirmed it \u2014 a deliberate choice that maintains regime control over even the most basic information about the leader’s family. South Korean intelligence analysts and outside experts universally use the name Kim Ju Ae, while noting that its romanization may also appear as Kim Ju-ae or Kim Chu-ae.<\/p>\n\n <h3>How old is Kim Jong Un’s daughter in 2026?<\/h3>\n\n <p>South Korean intelligence and outside analysts believe Kim Ju Ae was born in 2013, making her approximately 12 to 13 years old in 2026. She has never had her age confirmed by North Korean state media. Her birth year is estimated based on Dennis Rodman’s 2013 account of holding a baby daughter, combined with South Korean intelligence analysis of her physical appearance in state media photographs. Her relative youth has not stopped the regime from presenting her as a political figure of growing gravity \u2014 she has appeared at ICBM launches, military parades, state banquets, and in 2025 made her international debut when she traveled with Kim Jong Un to Beijing for a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping.<\/p>\n\n <h3>Photos of Kim Jong Un’s daughter: what has she been seen doing?<\/h3>\n\n <p>Kim Ju Ae first appeared publicly in November 2022, holding her father’s hand as he oversaw the launch of the Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile \u2014 a deliberate debut in the heart of the regime’s most powerful propaganda symbol. Since then, she has appeared at military parades, weapons tests, state banquets, factory visits, New Year’s celebrations, and a visit to the sacred Kumsusan Palace of the Sun mausoleum in January 2026. She has been photographed firing a sniper rifle, sitting in the driver’s seat of a tank, and wearing a black leather jacket nearly identical to her father’s \u2014 the same jacket Kim Jong Un uses to project military authority.<\/p>\n\n <p>In September 2025, she accompanied Kim Jong Un to Beijing for his first known multilateral summit \u2014 China’s “Victory Day” commemoration \u2014 marking her international debut and sending a clear signal to foreign governments about her elevated status. South Korea’s National Intelligence Service subsequently briefed lawmakers that this trip was intended to give Ju Ae “overseas experience” and “cement her status as his likely heir.”<\/p>\n\n <p>In February 2026, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) told lawmakers in a closed-door briefing that Kim Ju Ae had moved beyond merely being “in training” for succession \u2014 she had reached the stage of being “successor-designate.” The NIS said Kim Jong Un was now actively consulting his teenage daughter on policy decisions. Lawmakers who attended the briefing described this as a “considerable shift” in intelligence assessments.<\/p>\n\n <p>The signals embedded in North Korean state media reinforce this conclusion. Photographs of Ju Ae have shown her being framed at the center of group images \u2014 with Kim Jong Un placed to her side, not the reverse. She is frequently photographed from low angles, a technique North Korean state photographers traditionally reserve for figures of supreme authority. Officials around her are captured taking notes while she observes, mirroring the protocol normally reserved for the Supreme Leader. The title “great person of guidance” \u2014 historically used only for Kim Jong Un \u2014 has been applied to Ju Ae in state media.<\/p>\n\n <div class=\"box-by-numbers\">\n <p class=\"box-label\">By the numbers<\/p>\n <p class=\"box-title\">Kim Ju Ae’s public appearances<\/p>\n <div class=\"stats\">\n <strong>2022:<\/strong> 2 <span style=\"font-size:12px;\">(debut year)<\/span> | \n <strong>2023:<\/strong> 18 | \n <strong>2024:<\/strong> 13 | \n <strong>2025:<\/strong> 17 | \n <strong>2026:<\/strong> 13 by March\n <\/div>\n <p class=\"footnote\">Already on pace to surpass all previous years, with 13 appearances by March alone, according to analysis by South Korean media of KCNA reporting.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n <h3>What do North Koreans think about Kim Jong Un’s daughter?<\/h3>\n\n <p>This is perhaps the most difficult question to answer \u2014 and the question where Daily NK’s unique access to sources inside North Korea is most valuable. Official North Korean society is required to express reverence for Ju Ae, who is described in state media as the “most cherished” child. But what do ordinary citizens actually think?<\/p>\n\n <p>Daily NK’s in-country sources indicate a complex picture. Among the elite in Pyongyang, there is genuine curiosity \u2014 and some quiet admiration \u2014 for the young girl who appears so confident beside her father on the world stage. Among ordinary citizens outside the capital, awareness of her existence is more limited; state media coverage is tightly controlled, and many North Koreans outside the elite have limited access to television or newspapers. A deeper undercurrent noted by defectors is one of quiet bewilderment: North Korea’s deeply patriarchal culture has never had a female ruler, and the prospect of a girl barely into her teens ascending to the Supreme Leadership is genuinely unprecedented. As one defector told researchers: “People say what they are supposed to say. What they think is another matter entirely.”<\/p>\n\n <div class=\"box-insider\">\n <p class=\"box-label\">📡 Daily NK Exclusive: Sources inside North Korea on Kim Ju Ae<\/p>\n <p>Daily NK’s in-country contacts \u2014 individuals with access to elite circles in Pyongyang \u2014 report that awareness of Kim Ju Ae as a potential successor is growing at the upper levels of the party, but discussion of the topic in anything other than reverential terms is strictly forbidden. Officials who have expressed even mild skepticism in private have reportedly been subject to surveillance and “guidance.” The regime is aware of the cultural barriers a female successor would face \u2014 and appears to be working methodically to build Ju Ae’s legitimacy well in advance.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n <h2 id=\"sister\">Kim Jong Un’s Sister \u2014 Kim Yo Jong<\/h2>\n\n <h3>Who is Kim Jong Un’s sister, Kim Yo Jong?<\/h3>\n\n <p>Kim Yo Jong is Kim Jong Un’s younger full sister \u2014 born in 1987 or 1988 to Kim Jong Il and Ko Young Hee \u2014 and is widely regarded as the second most powerful person in North Korea. For years she operated largely behind the scenes as her brother’s closest political confidante, but she has increasingly emerged as the regime’s most aggressive and visible spokesperson, particularly on matters of foreign policy. Daily NK traced her rise to power in a detailed analysis that drew on both defector accounts and close reading of North Korean state media. She is described by defectors who knew her circle as highly intelligent, operationally ruthless, and fiercely loyal to her brother \u2014 though with strong views of her own.<\/p>\n\n <p>She holds multiple positions within the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK). As of 2026, she serves as Director of the General Affairs Department of the WPK \u2014 a promotion announced at the Party Congress in February 2026 \u2014 and retains her role overseeing the Propaganda and Agitation Department (PAD), the nerve center of North Korea’s information and ideological control apparatus.<\/p>\n\n <h3>How much power does Kim Jong Un’s sister have in North Korea?<\/h3>\n\n <p>Kim Yo Jong’s power is difficult to overstate. She has become the regime’s primary voice for threatening South Korea, the United States, and Japan \u2014 issuing statements in her own name that carry the weight of official policy. She was the first North Korean official to directly engage with the concept of US-North Korea talks, and her statements are parsed by intelligence agencies worldwide for signs of Pyongyang’s intentions.<\/p>\n\n <p>As Daily NK documented, Kim Yo Jong’s ascent came in tandem with Ri Sol Ju’s retreat from public view \u2014 suggesting a deliberate restructuring of the regime’s public face. However, with Kim Ju Ae’s emergence as the presumptive heir, some analysts now believe that Kim Yo Jong’s role has shifted from potential successor to power broker and kingmaker \u2014 or, more precisely, queenmaker. Daily NK has also reported on instances where Kim Yo Jong appears to push back on her brother’s decisions, indicating that she is not a simple instrument of Kim Jong Un’s will but a political actor in her own right.<\/p>\n\n <h3>Does Kim Jong Un’s sister have children?<\/h3>\n\n <p>Kim Yo Jong is believed to be married and to have at least two children, though North Korea has never officially disclosed any information about her personal life. In January 2025, KCTV footage from a New Year’s art performance showed Kim Yo Jong walking with two young children \u2014 a boy and a girl \u2014 sparking immediate analysis from South Korea’s National Intelligence Service. The NIS confirmed it was analyzing the footage and said the children were within the age range consistent with earlier intelligence suggesting she might have children. A North Korean defector, former diplomat Ryu Hyun-woo, later confirmed to South Korean media that he had personally met Kim Yo Jong’s husband in 2014 \u2014 describing him as tall, handsome, and dressed in military uniform.<\/p>\n\n <p>Reports suggest her husband is the son of senior official Choe Ryong-hae, though this has not been independently confirmed.<\/p>\n\n <h3>Could Kim Yo Jong succeed Kim Jong Un as leader?<\/h3>\n\n <p>For several years, Kim Yo Jong was considered the most likely successor to her brother if he died or became incapacitated without having groomed a child successor. She has the ideological authority, the institutional knowledge, the family credentials, and the demonstrated ruthlessness to hold power.<\/p>\n\n <p>However, with Kim Ju Ae’s formal elevation to “successor-designate” status in 2026, most analysts now believe Kim Yo Jong’s role has shifted. North Korea’s deeply patriarchal political culture would likely make it far easier to legitimize a child of the Supreme Leader \u2014 even a daughter \u2014 than a sibling who carries a different surname. If Kim Ju Ae is formally designated heir during the Workers’ Party Congress or in state media, Kim Yo Jong’s succession path would effectively close. As Daily NK’s analysis of Kim Yo Jong’s political trajectory has made clear, she remains one of the most consequential \u2014 and most dangerous \u2014 political figures on earth, regardless of what role she plays in North Korea’s future.<\/p>\n\n <p class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/kim-yo-jongs-rise-to-power-in-the\/\">Kim Yo Jong’s rise to power in the era of Kim Jong Un \u2014 Daily NK<\/a><\/p>\n <p class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/kim-yo-jong-in-de-facto-power-of-p\/\">Kim Yo Jong in de facto power of PAD \u2014 Daily NK<\/a><\/p>\n <p class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/ri-in-the-shadows-as-kim-yo-jong-r\/\">Ri Sol Ju, Kim Yo Jong leading a new era of women in government in North Korea? \u2014 Daily NK<\/a><\/p>\n\n<\/article>\n<\/body>\n<\/html>\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kim Jong Un’s Family: Wife, Daughter, Children, Sister, and Mother \u2014 Daily NK A comprehensive guide to the world’s most secretive dynasty \u2014 built from Daily NK’s exclusive network of in-country sources and North Korean defectors Daily NK Editorial Staff | May 29, 2026 | Updated with the latest reporting from inside North Korea 📡 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":134,"featured_media":324420,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"wikipediapreview_detectlinks":true,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-324559","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail"],"yoast_head":"\n<title>Kim Jong Un's Family: Wife, Daughter, Sister & Children | Daily NK<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Who is Kim Jong Un's wife, daughter, and sister? 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