HRNK Questions Possibility of 2010-Born Son
Rodman Says He "Never Heard About a Son Being Born"
Kim Jong Un, Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of North Korea, and former NBA player Dennis Rodman. Photo by Asia Economy Database
Dennis Rodman, a former NBA player known to be a close friend of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, stated that he did not see any boys during his 2013 visit to North Korea when meeting Kim's family. Since Rodman was the first to reveal the existence of Kim Jong Un's daughter, Kim Ju Ae, to the international community, both domestic and international organizations have offered various analyses.
On the 24th (local time), Yonhap News Agency reported that the North Korea Rights Network (NRNK) published a report titled "The Last Successor? Kim Ju Ae and Power Succession in North Korea," discussing the possibility of Kim Ju Ae inheriting power. Park Jaewoo, a journalist from Radio Free Asia (RFA) who authored the report, introduced a brief interview he conducted with Rodman in April regarding Kim Ju Ae.
In April this year, when asked by an RFA reporter if he had seen Kim Jong Un's son or any other children during his 2013 visit, Rodman replied, "Other family members were around, but I did not see any boys." In a 2023 RFA report, Joao Micaelo, who was Kim Jong Un's classmate during his studies in Switzerland, stated that during his visit to North Korea in July 2012 at Kim's invitation, he learned directly from Kim that Ri Sol Ju was pregnant. When he returned to Pyongyang in April 2013, he "heard that a daughter had been born, but did not hear anything about a son."
North Korean State Affairs Commission Chairman Kim Jong Un is seen greeting embassy staff during his visit to the North Korean Embassy in China on the 6th, accompanied by his daughter Ju Ae. Photo by Yonhap News Agency via Korean Central Television
Previously, in 2017, the National Intelligence Service (NIS) estimated that Kim Jong Un had three children: a son born in 2010, a daughter born in 2013 (Kim Ju Ae), and a third child of unknown gender born in 2017. However, the latest NRNK report pointed out, "The claim that Ri Sol Ju gave birth in 2010 contradicts her frequent stage appearances that year." Considering South Korea's postpartum care culture and North Korea's 180-day maternity leave, if Ri Sol Ju had given birth in 2010, she should have been absent from the stage for a much longer period.
The report stated, "The National Intelligence Service raised the possibility that Kim Jong Un and Ri Sol Ju married in 2009, but a high-ranking defector claimed that Ri Sol Ju was a university student at the time, making marriage unlikely." It continued, "Some speculate that Kim Jong Un and Ri Sol Ju married around 2011, based on the fact that Ri Sol Ju disappeared from the stage around that time. However, given North Korea's conservative atmosphere, premarital pregnancy is not tolerated, so the theory of a son born in 2010 raises even more questions."
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