North Korea is full of secrets; some are better kept than others. In the case of
Kim Jong-un’s wife, there may be dark facts about her past and how she got to where she is
that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea does not want you to know about. The truth is, Ri
Sol-ju is shrouded in mystery. Who is she really? Why does she disappear from the public's view from
time to time? And what other insane facts have been uncovered about the Supreme Leader's wife?
Ri Sol-Ju was first seen with Kim Jong-Un and identified as his wife during the opening of
an amusement park in North Korea. This was an underwhelming way to be introduced as the
first lady of the most oppressive dictator on the planet. Once the North Korean State
Media confirmed that the woman with the Supreme Leader was, in fact, his wife,
people frantically scrambled to figure out who she was and where she came from.
Researchers hypothesized that Kim and Ri had likely been married since 2008.
Due to the heavy censorship in North Korea, it seemed as if Ri Sol-ju appeared out of thin air.
But since 2012, stories have been leaked about her past. She has also enjoyed some insane perks
as the wife of the dictator of North Korea and has even done some pretty crazy things as
a result of this power. However, it is important to remember that Ri Sol-ju’s life is not her own,
and she has even been forced into some deranged situations.
We are going to start at the beginning. But in terms of Ri Sol-ju’s life,
it is unclear exactly when that is.
No one but the heads of the North Korean government and Ri’s family knows her real date of
birth, but it is reported to be sometime between 1985 and 1989, putting her somewhere in her mid to
late 30s. Nevertheless, it is not entirely clear when or how she first met Kim Jong-Un. There is
a mystery surrounding their first meeting, and it may have even been against her will.
From what we have been able to uncover, Ri Sol-ju came from a relatively well-off family
in North Korea. Her mother was supposedly a doctor, and her father a professor.
This meant she had certain opportunities most people in North Korea didn’t.
Even still, she and her family were powerless against what was to come.
Before we get to the crazy stuff Ri Sol-ju had to go through as Kim Jong-un's wife,
we are going to explore what she did before meeting her future husband.
It is surprising how little is known about Ri Sol-ju’s upbringing or what she did before 2012
when she was thrust into the spotlight. But when word got out that Kim Jong-un had a new wife,
some people immediately recognized who she was. After the reveal South Korean intelligence
got to work and uncovered some interesting things about the Supreme Leader’s new wife.
The information uncovered about the mysterious bride indicated that before becoming the wife
of Kim Jong-un, Ri Sol-ju was supposedly quite talented. She not only was a musician but also
engaged in other physical activities that may have drawn the Supreme Leader’s attention to her.
For example, South Korean intelligence was able to track her back to China,
where she studied music with a focus on singing.
This opportunity would not be granted to just any North Korean citizen. So,
it is clear that from the beginning of her life, Ri was more privileged than many in her country.
Along with singing solo, Ri also performed in the North Korean orchestra,
which exemplifies her musical ability. There is no doubt that Ri was musically talented,
but she was also engaged in another performing art.
In 2005 she visited South Korea as a member of the North Korean cheerleading squad.
These facts are surprising because we know very little about the lives of people from North Korea
due to the intense censorship the government maintains over everything that happens in their
country and with their people. What little knowledge we possess is either fed to the
international press by the State Media or from defectors of North Korea. As we will see later,
there are very few outsiders who are allowed into North Korea,
and even fewer that have ever actually met Ri Sol-ju. But one former NBA star
has actually provided more information about Kim Jong-un’s wife than many other sources
due to the fact that he is quite friendly with the Supreme Leader.
What makes learning the truth about who Ri Sol-ju was so difficult is that North Korean officials
are actively trying to erase her past. Think of how crazy that is. Ri was probably just a
normal person living the life of a musician and cheerleader; then, her entire history was erased
in a matter of days. The reason this happened was probably so the State could mold her to be whoever
they wanted or needed at the time, which is pretty messed up. But this isn't really a surprising move
for the dictatorship that loves to control and censor every aspect of their citizens’ lives.
The North Korean government has even gone as far as confiscating bootleg CDs of Ri
Sol-ju’s performances whenever they come across one. It is scary to think about
what happens to the people who were in possession of the bootlegs at the time.
The fact that North Korean leaders want to destroy the CDs and all other aspects of Ri Sol-ju’s past
so badly likely means anyone caught with one of the bootleg CDs probably doesn’t make it out of
the confrontation unharmed. It is not out of the realm of possibility that anyone in North Korea
found with a bootleg copy of Ri's performances is either immediately thrown in jail or killed.
Interestingly, Ri was not only a talented entertainer, but she was also reportedly working
towards a Ph.D. in one of the sciences before her true identity was wiped from all records
and she became Kim Jong-un’s wife. It seems as if she had a bright future ahead of her
even under the oppressive regime in North Korea. However, her life was about to change forever.
You would think that something as important as Kim Jong-un getting married would be televised
and talked about across media outlets in North Korea. Surprisingly, this was not the case,
and the reason why is almost unbelievable. Not only was the wedding kept out of the media,
but the exact date that Kim Jong-un and Ri Sol-ju were married is unknown. In fact, other than
official statements by the government, there is no record that the wedding actually ever happened. It
seems like it would be way too much trouble to create a false marriage to give Kim Jong-un a fake
wife, but you can never be too sure when it comes to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
2009 is the best guess researchers have as to when the wedding officially took place. However, other
conflicting stories say that Kim Jong-un didn’t even meet Ri until 2010 at one of the concerts
she was singing in. Either way, the name Ri Sol-ju did not exist until 2012 when she appeared with
the Supreme Leader to open an amusement park and was identified as the wife of Kim Jong-Un.
Many claim it is not super surprising that there was secrecy around the wedding. This is because
Kim Jong-il, the father of Kim Jong-un, did not publicize any of his weddings, even though
he had multiple. Not only did Kim Jon-il not allow his weddings to be put in the spotlight,
but he never even acknowledged any of his wives in public at all. It was like they
existed but were not important enough to attend events or travel with the dictator.
This is a pretty messed-up way of treating your significant other, and Kim Jong-un is
only slightly better than his father in that respect. Ri Sol-ju has definitely been seen
in public more than any of Kim Jong-il's wives, but she does tend to disappear from time to time.
There is something even crazier about the marriage between Kim Jong-un and Ri Sol-ju.
There is a decent chance that she had no say in the marriage at all.
It was reported that as Kim Jong-il got sicker and sicker, he began to panic that his son had
not yet married or fathered any children. It would be a disaster if his death meant the end of the
bloodline. Therefore, there was only one thing to do. Some believe that Kim Jong-il arranged
the marriage after suffering a stroke in 2008. For whatever reason, the former Supreme Leader
felt that his son was not to be trusted with his own future. To be fair, Kim Jong-un hadn’t had
to make many decisions for himself in his life, so why would who he married be any different?
The way this series of events may have played out is that with his failing health,
Kim Jong-il frantically began looking for a suitable wife for his son.
He found that companion through one of his military advisors,
who was the uncle of Ri Sol-ju. This is unconfirmed but may have been the path that led
to the selection of Kim Jong-un’s wife. It would also explain the quick turnaround time between
Kim Jong-un having no romantic partners in 2009 to being married in 2012 without anyone knowing.
This brings up one of the wildest facts about Ri Sol-Ju’s life.
Even though she may have had a bright future ahead of her as an entertainer or a scientist,
that was all taken away in the blink of an eye by her future father-in-law. Once Kim Jong-il had his
sights set on getting his son married, whoever he chose would have no choice but to say yes.
There are definitely upsides to being a dictator's wife, especially when he has
absolute ruler over an entire country. But there are also several downsides.
The little we know about Ri Sol-ju is just the tip of the iceberg. You have to remember
that before marrying the Supreme Leader, she had a whole life with family and friends.
The sad part is she will likely never see any of them again.
Being the wife of a dictator means that Ri must be protected at all times and always monitored
to make sure she doesn’t do anything to hurt her husband or the country as a whole.
This means that Ri has zero privacy and isn’t allowed to
talk with family or friends without the supervision of someone from the State.
We doubt she is allowed to talk with anyone from her school, music, or cheerleading days as the
North Korean government has tried extremely hard to hide everything from Ri’s past.
For what it’s worth, Ri Sol-ju has made strides in what the wife of the Supreme Leader of North Korea
can do. Unlike all of the wives of Kim Jong-il, Ri has traveled with her husband to different
countries for certain events. She has even attended some very unexpected weapons tests.
In April of 2018, Ri Sol-ju became the first wife of a North Korean leader to attend a summit.
Kim Jong-un and his wife went to South Korea, where they met with the president and first
lady. This was a huge step forward for the wife of a Supreme Leader.
But what made this trip so special was that it was not with a North Korean ally.
Ri Sol-ju had been to China before with her husband. However, South Korea was a country where
tensions tended to be high. This inter-Korean summit was a way to show the peoples of each
nation and the world that South and North Korea were working on a diplomatic way to get along.
Ri also did something else surprising at the summit; something no one saw coming.
Ri Sol-ju and Kim Jung-sook, the wife of the president of South Korea,
apparently became friends. This could have just been for show, but multiple times during
the visit, the two women were seen talking about various topics and laughing with one another. It
was reported that they bonded over their love of music, especially singing. Kim Jung-sook sang in
the Seoul Metropolitan Chorus while Ri, as far as we can tell, sang in the Unhasu Orchestra in her
pre-marriage days. It is possible that the first ladies at the summit made more progress than their
husbands, and Ri Sol-ju played a prominent role in this connection during the meeting.
This is a common theme with Ri, which makes it surprising when she disappears
from the public view from time to time. In all of her international appearances,
people seem to like her. But there is one thing about Ri Sol-ju that has surprised,
shocked, and even led to confrontation amongst the international community.
Ri Sol-ju has been praised and condemned for her sense of fashion, and there is a good reason for
this. Ri became somewhat of a fashion icon in China. During a two-day visit to Beijing,
Ri was reported to have worn three different outfits. Each of which became popular amongst
the Chinese fashion community. She seems to favor pastel-colored dresses reminiscent of Easter Eggs,
which seems to speak to some Chinese women. In fact, social media in China
couldn’t get enough of the North Korean dictator’s wife while she was visiting.
Ri has also been seen carrying expensive bags from fashion icons like Chanel and Dior.
Between the dresses, jackets, and bags in her wardrobe, it is clear that Ri Sol-ju has some
expensive tastes. And this is where she runs into some problems from the international community.
Ri’s outfits and accessories cost thousands if not tens of thousands of dollars. And this is
just what we have seen from approved media photos. There is no telling how much her entire wardrobe
could cost. And in a country where poverty runs rampant amongst most of its citizens,
having the dictator's wife owning thousands or even millions of dollars worth of clothing and
accessories is not received well by human rights organizations.
Now, Ri Sol-ju is not the only first lady to own expensive outfits while her people starve.
Actually, any first lady in any country probably has outfits worth more than many people make in
a month or year. This is just the world we live in, but in North Korea’s case,
the disparity between the people in power and the rest of the population is insane.
Due to the way the country is run, somewhere around 60% of the North Korean population is
reported to live in poverty. That means over half the country is struggling just to survive
while the elites are living lives of luxury and comfort. It is almost a slap in the face to the
country's citizens when the wife of their ruler is seen wearing expensive clothing.
To put this into perspective, most North Korean workers make somewhere between 2 and 3 dollars
per month. This means that just one of the purses or dresses that Ri has been seen wearing
costs more than what these people make in decades. That is pretty messed up when you think about it.
However, we don’t know for sure what the exact purchasing habits of the Supreme Leader's wife are
since the only information we have is what the State-controlled media shows us.
Maybe Ri is trying to update the look of North Korea by wearing things from Western countries
and promoting a more modern wardrobe for women. It seems unlikely that the men who make up the
leadership of North Korea would concern themselves over what the wife of their leader wears, but
maybe they do. Or perhaps the most powerful woman in North Korea, Kim Yo-jong, the sister to Kim
Jong-un, is working in collaboration with Ri to change the way women are viewed in the country. We
probably won’t ever find out, but it is surprising that Kim Jong-un’s wife is even allowed to wear
clothing and apparel created by companies that are from the part of the world North Korea despises.
Even though Ri may be seen as progressive by women in some countries,
she still must follow some very strict rules. Some of which you won’t believe.
Ri Sol-ju has traveled around North Korea and to other countries with her
husband many times. But she is not allowed to go anywhere on her own.
Maybe it’s because North Korea thinks she's a flight risk, or perhaps they don’t trust her,
but it’s more likely because they just want to control every part of her life.
Until Ri Sol-ju, the wives of the Supreme Leaders of North Korea weren’t allowed to
leave the country even with their husbands. So, at least Ri getting to visit China and
South Korea is a positive. But the restrictions Ri has to follow are extreme at the best of times
and oppressive in many circumstances. Interestingly, Ri left the country many
times before being married when she traveled as an entertainer, but now that she is Kim
Jong-un’s wife, traveling outside of North Korea by herself is a thing of the past.
However, one of the most shocking places that Ri Sol-ju has been spotted is at a missile launch.
Why does she need to be at missile launches? No one knows. Maybe it has to do with Kim
Jong-un wanting his faithful wife by his side as he threatens world peace,
but it probably has more to do with public image than anything else.
Then again, maybe Ri enjoys going to the missile launches. She always seems
to have on one of her most stylish pastel dresses for the occasion. Since she is not
allowed to do interviews or speak for herself, we may never know why she is actually there.
But a missile launch seems to be an odd place for the first lady to appear even in North Korea.
And this isn’t the only military activity that Ri has been involved in.
She was actually responsible for something that seems so out of line with how the
wives of the Kim dynasty are normally treated that it is almost unbelievable.
It has been reported that Ri Sol-ju actually fired one of the top generals in the North
Korean military. There is a decent chance this was done as a way to advance a particular policy
change or a form of propaganda to show the Supreme Leader’s wife as being powerful,
but it is still the first time such an event has occurred. Although when you think about it,
it is kind of a badass move for Ri to fire a hardened general.
It seems that for many years Ri could be found by her husband's side at any number of different
events and occasions. However, there are times when the Supreme Leader's wife went missing.
What could have caused her sudden disappearance? You wouldn’t know it,
but it was actually for a joyous reason… at least that’s what it seemed like at first.
Although the international community didn't learn of who Ri Sol-ju was until 2012,
there were North Koreans who were aware their future leader had taken a wife years before that.
Some recounted that in 2010 Ri Sol-ju abruptly disappeared.
It got to the point people were worried about her well-being. Rumors started to
circulate that she had become very sick. However, that was far from the truth.
What was actually happening during her disappearance was that she was pregnant. The North
Korean government did not want Ri to appear in any form of the media until after she had given birth.
No one quite knows why they wanted to keep Ri and her pregnancy a secret from the world, but
the second time around in 2012, many speculated based on pictures that she was pregnant again.
The craziest part was the world would not find out if the rumors were true
until a former NBA player went to North Korea and accidentally leaked the secret.
In 2013 Dennis Rodman visited Kim Jon-un in North Korea. This would be his first of several visits
to the country, where he became friends with the Supreme Leader. When Rodman first met Kim Jong-un
he said he got to spend time with his family. This would be one of the only times someone from
the United States or the Western world would interact with Ri Sol-ju. When Rodman returned
from his visit to North Korea, he had only nice things to say about Kim Jong-un and his wife.
Rodman told the press that Ri was kind and that Kim Jong-un was a “good dad”
with a “beautiful family.” Their baby girl is named Kim Ju-ae and
was apparently the only child present when Rodman visited North Korea.
This is interesting because although Rodman has been back, there has been no mention of
Kim Jong-un and Ri’s other kids. They are reported to have three altogether,
but this cannot be confirmed as there are no official pictures or documents of the children.
In 2017 Ri disappeared again, and it is assumed that she had another child.
But this is where things get really crazy. There may be a reason that Ri
Sol-ju and the rest of the family of the Supreme Leader have not been in the press.
In order to continue the Kim dynasty,
Ri and her husband need to have a boy. Some reports claim this has already happened,
but others are skeptical. Media outlets in South Korea have speculated that Ri Sol-ju’s
first two children were girls. This would be a problem for the Kim dynasty as a male is needed
to continue the family tradition of ruling North Korea. Some think this prompted North
Korean officials to force Ri and her husband to keep trying until they had a baby boy.
One defector even told South Korean newscasters that Ri was being pressured from all sides to
give birth to a son because “the regime is not so sturdy.” This is a good time to point
out the irony of male dictators or kings who get upset at their wives for not having a male baby.
Since the only way a baby can be born a boy is if the father's Y chromosome is in
the sperm that impregnates the female, the only person to blame for not having a boy
is the father. This means that it is never the woman’s fault that a baby is not male.
Granted, it is random chance whether the sperm will contain an X chromosome or Y chromosome.
But the fact remains the only person that is capable of contributing the sex chromosome
that will result in a male offspring is the father. So really, Kim Jong-un should be the
one under pressure to produce a male offspring, and Ri Sol-ju should be left alone. Then again,
Kim doesn’t seem like he takes constructive criticism very well.
In April of 2018, Ri received a new title. Instead of being Comrade Ri Sol-ju she was
elevated to the status of Respected First Lady Ri Sol-ju. This was the first time the wife of
a North Korean ruler has held that title since 1974. This may have been done to show that North
Korea was progressing as a country, but since 2018 very little has been seen of Ri Sol-ju.
In fact, the last time she was seen was on January 25,
2020, at the Pyongyang’s Samjiyon Theater for a Lunar New Year’s Day performance. This means she
has not made an appearance in public in almost two years. Like everything else about Ri Sol-ju,
we have very little information to go on to explain her most recent disappearance. But
you can’t help but feel that the leaders of the North Korean government are in some way to blame.
Now watch “What It Is REALLY Like Living In North Korea?” Or check out
“North Korea vs United States (USA) - 2021 Military / Army Comparison.”