She looks like a beautiful woman - Kim Jong Eun is married, North Korea confirms

[rst9]

Kim Jong Eun is married, North Korea confirms

KCNA/REUTERS - North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un and his wife, who was
named by the state broadcaster as Ri Sol-ju, visit the Rungna People's
Pleasure Ground, in Pyongyang in this undated picture released by the
North's KCNA on July 25, 2012.
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By Chico Harlan, Wednesday, July 25, 8:20 AM

TOKYO — North Korean state media on Wednesday revealed that leader Kim
Jong Eun is married, a jarring announcement in a country that has long
kept its first ladies nearly invisible.

The announcement ends weeks of speculation about the identity of a
slender woman — with a stylish bob of hair — who’d accompanied Kim in
several recent public appearances.

State media identified the woman as Kim’s wife, “Comrade Ri Sol Ju.”
But there was no mention of Ri’s age or of how long the couple has
been married.

The first lady’s emergence ends a four-decade period where significant
others of the ruling Kim family were kept almost entirely behind the
scenes. The North’s willingness to give Ri a high profile adds to
mounting evidence that Kim, appointed just seven months ago as North
Korea’s leader, is trying to create a more personable image than that
of his dour, reclusive father.

“It seems Kim Jong Eun will have a more open attitude compared to his
father’s generation,” Cheong Seong-chang, a North Korea researcher at
Seoul’s Sejong Institute, wrote in a report after the Wednesday
announcement.

Ri looks to be in her late 20s or early 30s. She’s been shown with Kim
in the North’s state media — either in photographs or on television —
four times. The couple attended a concert with Disney characters. They
visited the mausoleum where Kim Il Sung, the young leader’s
grandfather, lies in state. They also toured a kindergarten, where
state-released video showed the couple whispering to each other and
sharing laughs. The latest batch of pictures were released early
Wednesday, before the marriage announcement, when the North’s state
media showed the couple at an amusement park.

At one point during the kindergarten visit, Kim and Ri simultaneously
put their hands atop a schoolgirl’s head. Though they were trailed by
a cadre of senior officials, the young husband and wife stayed close
to one another, and Ri often leaned toward Kim. She wore a yellow
polka-dotted dress with a white jacket.

Despite North Korea’s efforts to cultivate Kim’s warm image, however,
the young leader oversees one of the world’s most cold-blooded states,
one whose government funnels its money to weapons, provides scant food
for its people, and punishes those who criticize the status quo.

Kim, thought to be in his late 20s, could still emerge as a reformer,
analysts say. But since the death of Kim Jong Il last December, there
has been no clear evidence of improvements in the country. Kim,
instead, has quickly consolidated his power, grabbing a series of
supreme positions that place him atop every important military and
Workers’ Party organ, and cracking down on North Koreans who try to
flee the country.

A report on Kim’s succession, released Wednesday by the International
Crisis Group, described the heir’s “stable” rise to power, noting that
he could be in power “for decades,” in part because of his charismatic
personality.

“In the short term, his image is likely welcome in a country where
most people are fatigued from mass mobilization campaigns … and
chronic insecurity,” the report said. “Kim projects an image of
confidence and hope, but economic recovery requires policy change, and
there is no sign the regime intends to vary its economic development
strategy.”

The differences between father and son, for now, remain more a matter
of style.

The love life of Kim Jong Il occurred almost entirely out of public
view. According to “Kim Jong Il: North Korea’s Dear Leader,” a book by
Michael Breen, Kim fathered his first child with a movie star, Sung
Hae Rim. The two lived in lavish, remote villas and gave their son,
Kim Jong Nam, a playroom restocked each year by gift-purchase teams
operating overseas. But Kim’s relationship with Sung was “the best-
kept secret in the country,” Breen wrote, and it’s unclear if the
couple was ever married.

At the wishes of Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il later married the daughter
of a military officer, Kim Young Sook. He then had at least one more
relationship with a Japanese-born Korean, Ko Young Hee, who gave birth
to two more children — Kim Jong Chul and Kim Jong Eun.

Yoonjung Seo, in Seoul, contributed to this report.