Kim Jong Un is a North Korean politician who has served as the supreme leader of North Korea since the death of his father, Kim Jong Il, in December 2011. As the third generation of the Kim dynasty, he holds the highest offices in the country, including General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) and President of the State Affairs Commission. Under his leadership, North Korea has continued to pursue the development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missile technology while maintaining a highly centralized, totalitarian political system. Born into the ruling family, Kim Jong Un’s exact date of birth is a subject of scholarly and intelligence debate; although North Korean sources have historically cited 1982, international observers and Western intelligence agencies, including those in the United States, typically identify his birth year as 1984. He is the second of three children born to Kim Jong Il and his consort, Ko Yong-hui. Kim spent a portion of his youth in Switzerland, where he reportedly attended the International School of Berne under the pseudonym "Pak-un" during the late 1990s. Upon returning to North Korea, he attended the Kim Il Sung Military University from 2002 to 2007, a period during which he began to be integrated into the state's military and political structures. Kim Jong Un’s trajectory toward supreme leadership accelerated in the late 2000s. In 2010, he was publicly introduced as the successor, receiving the rank of four-star general and appointments to key positions in the WPK and the Central Military Commission. Following his father’s death in December 2011, Kim rapidly consolidated power, often through the removal or execution of high-ranking officials and potential rivals—most notably his uncle, Jang Song-thaek, in 2013—to ensure firm control over the party, military, and state security apparatus. A defining characteristic of Kim’s governance has been the *byungjin* line, a policy emphasizing the simultaneous development of the national economy and the strengthening of nuclear and missile capabilities. Throughout his tenure, North Korea has significantly expanded its nuclear arsenal and successfully tested various intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), leading to a hardened geopolitical stance and intensified international sanctions. While he engaged in high-profile summit diplomacy in 2018 and 2019—including historic meetings with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and United States President Donald Trump—these efforts ultimately failed to result in a denuclearization agreement or the lifting of sanctions. In recent years, Kim has pivoted toward a more confrontational stance, abandoning the goal of peaceful reunification and explicitly declaring the United States and South Korea as major adversaries. In his personal life, Kim is married to Ri Sol-ju, a former performer whose public profile as First Lady marked a departure from the secrecy surrounding his father's spouses. The couple reportedly married in 2009. Intelligence agencies and media reports suggest they have three children, though the details remain heavily guarded. Since 2022, his daughter, Kim Ju-Ae, has made frequent appearances alongside him at state events, including military parades and missile launches, fueling international speculation regarding the potential future of the Kim family dynasty. Kim Jong Un’s legacy is defined by his commitment to maintaining the survival of the North Korean regime through military strength, economic autarky, and the solidification of his own cult of personality. By prioritizing the expansion of nuclear forces as a non-negotiable state interest, he has secured his position as a central, albeit isolated, figure in the security landscape of East Asia.