NK leader`s wife visited S.Korea in 2005: intelligence

Ri Sol Ju (photo), the wife of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, is known to have been born in 1989, worked as a singer for the Unhasu (Galaxy) Orchestra, and once visited South Korea, the National Intelligence Service in Seoul said Thursday.

Rep. Jung Chung-rae of the main opposition Democratic United Party cited an intelligence report that she attended Kumsong 2 Junior and Senior High School in Pyongyang and studied singing in China. The performing arts school is for gifted children who start from age 4 or 5. Students there grow up to be artists for performing arts troupes in North Korea.

The intelligence agency said Ri most likely married the North Korean leader in 2009 and bore him a child. She is from an ordinary family, not from one with membership in the North`s ruling Workers` Party or the military. The report also said intelligence has been obtained on Kim’s wife using other names such as Pak Sol Ju, Han Sol Ju and Ri Sol Ju, and has investigated utilizing various sources.

In addition, Ri was confirmed to have visited South Korea in 2005 as a representative of the North Korean team for the 16th Asian Athletics Championship in Incheon. Unknown is if she attended joint events in 2003 and 2004 by the two Koreas at Mount Kumgang, according to an official.

The intelligence agency said the North released information on her including her real name to show that the Stalinist country was well and stable.

For the first time, Kim Jong Un’s birthday was officially announced as being January 1984. The year of his birth had been a source of debate, and was believed to be either 1983 or 1984.

shcho@donga.com