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KCNA via Reuters file
North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un (L) watches a military exercise of the Korean People's Army in an undisclosed location, in this undated picture recently released by the official Korean News Agency KCNA.
The current ruler of nuclear-armed North Korea was a laggard student who frequently skipped class when he was attending a school in Switzerland in the 1990s, according to the Daily Record news site.
The UK publication, citing leaked documents, reported that the Kim Jong Un, 29, who took the helm of the isolated totalitarian country upon the death of his father, Kim Jong Il, in December, missed 75 days of school his first year of school at the International School in Berne.
Kim missed 105 days his second year at the elite private school, where he registered under a pseudonym as the son of a North Korean diplomat. It was not clear from the report which grade levels he was in at the time, but he would have been in his mid-teens.
An unnamed source who said he was a school friend of Kim said that Pak Un — as Kim was known there — often did not show up at school until afternoon, preferring instead to play video games or watch basketball on television.
His grades seemed to suffer accordingly. According to the report, he failed science and got minimum pass grades in English and German, the main language used in the Swiss capital of Bern, but did well in music and technical studies.
Kim Jong Un was enrolled in the Kim Il Sung Military University in Pyongyang from 2002 to 2007, most analysts agree.
Kim Jong Un, now dubbed the "great successor," is the third-generation North Korean leader in his family, though virtually nothing was known about him before he was appointed to a set of powerful positions in 2011. His father, Kim Jong Il, came to power in a similar fashion, moving into the top military, government and party roles left by his father, Kim Il Sung, a communist guerrilla fighter who is considered the father of the country.
North Korea analysts continue to puzzle over the newest Kim in charge. It remains unclear how much support he has within the military, and whether he has any inclination toward reform — seen as essential to restarting the country’s moribund economy and breaking the country’s isolation.
The United States, South Korea and other allies were discouraged by Pyongyang’s recent insistence that it soon will launch a rocket — purportedly to put a satellite in orbit — but widely viewed as a pretext for a long-range missile test.
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Leave a Comment:
Justone guy .. you're right ... you are pathetic. If you know that little about the President of the United States, you should not be allowed to vote.
As far as Kimmy -- I never thought of that but he DOES look like Chaz Bono .. ALOT For a guy /family who hates all things western, why did they send him to Switzerland for school and why was he playing video games and watching basketball?
I think Russia and the US should test some new weapons systems and use N. Korea as the target. Just obliterate the whole idiotic country. Then S. Korea would have some room for expansion. Oh yeah, let them join in the target practice as well.
The USA does not have issues with citizens of oppressed countries, just their leadership. You suggest the masses should pay? How about if your home is blown up by an Iranian because they don't like what goes on in Washington DC? Will that be OK with you?
I do not think Kim Jong Un runs North Korea...I think the North Korean military runs him.
As someone who spent a significant amount of time living in a post-Communist nation(Russia, Ukraine), I grew to have more fear of their countries being destroyed from within than from the US and her Allies. I share that same sentiment from North Korea as well. Their country is one chip away from total destruction. Any country holding on so extremely tight to Marxist/Leninist/Stalinist ideologies and infrastructure is just as vulnerable to inside pressures. When I lived in St. Petersburg, Russia and the eastern part of the Ukraine(Donetsk area and Dnepropetrovsk) I witnessed an astronomical amount of soldiers, sailors and other military personnel be three sheets in the wind, stone-cold drunk. I bet North Korea to be no different, so their military's rampant alcoholism will eventually be their undoing. I took a visit to Kronshtadt(Russian Navy Base) and I saw at least 75% of their vessels permanently moored because they don't have the parts to fix up their derelict ships and submarines. So, Russia is definitely not in any condition to export military parts and materiel to North Korea. So, in essence, no worries people!
North Korea, Communist, anti-West, hates South Korea, has nuclear weapons, uneducated idiot in control...reason to worry.
If N. Korea is getting their nukes from Russia then no, no worries. Just because they(N. Korea) can put a nuclear missile together does NOT mean that the missile can reach its target. Think about it, if a country cannot put its naval vessels to sea or put its military aircraft in the sky, then you shouldn't worry about one of their nukes making it out of the silo, let alone to another country. Russia cannot launch a majority of their ships and they cannot fly most of their jets. What Russia can't do, then N. Korea can't do as well.
More importantly, North Korea CAN'T put a nuclear missile together. They probably have a nuclear bomb, but they can't get it small enough to put on a missile, and no plane is going to make it close enough to Seoul for even a nuclear bomb to do much damage. It takes a lot of know-how to miniaturize a nuke to the point that you can place it on a missile.
So in North Korea we have the dumb leading the stupid..................that's just great.
And that is only different from here in that our leaders speak english.
Proves the point I made recently, politicians are not the sharpest marbles in the bag anywhere!!!!!!
WELL, he's in a different class now! BETTER study heavily or your gonna FLUNK!
Gee, I wish my daddy owned a country. Then I wouldn't have had to actually go to class during college.
Some people get all the breaks. And all the pudding, it seems.
"Report: North Korea's Kim Jong Un was poor student, chronic truant"
Could just as easily be talking about Bush!
Or 0bama.
Every society has its privileged class - it does no good to be jealous - and even less good to expose your jealousy
"Every society has its privileged class - it does no good to be jealous - and even less good to expose your jealousy"
Wow! You're so 'not smart'.
That is what you get from reading the article, and the responses?
I now see how the statistic that 30% of college graduates can't figure-out the argument in an editorial is affecting America, and I find it frightening.
I know.
You don't get it.
i know my idea MIGHT cause great unrest, but i say nuke the fvcken country of nk.
That picture is a good chance for one of his goons to push him over the rail!
A rich kid of a powerful dictator who knows exactly where his future will be... I wouldn't have gone to class either!
Yeah this little prick is a true porker who never missed a meal......and his dad has starved an entire country....AND.....these@!$%#s have the 'bomb'...... but don't they know...if they attack any country, they will get it ten-fold....THEY will be 'off the map' ...sad for the good people of the country, but best for the whole world!!
To:
Dave-2664536
fusseltier, He would be the second one,obama beat him to that title.
But I bet that Kenya won't claim Kim as their own,like berry.
Your life must be very empty if all you have is hate for everyone who is different than you
To Cuong D Nguyen. You are an idiot. Without democrat you are still in VN and VN would be a free country by now.
Perfect example of someone who never worked for his power. The guy would be a lazy jerk in any position. I find it hard to believe he has garnered any respect from the rest of the party or military leaders.
He looks like someone with down syndrome, but then again they all do.
People are really compairing this guy to GW Bush? Trust me, I've read many books about North Korea and how the people are treated, and it's not even close! Come on! They don't even get to choose what college they want to go to (if they even get to go at all), or what profession they want to go into. They have no liberties what-so-ever.
Our leader may be dumber than theirs but at least we'll have a change in November.
Oh my gosh, why do you morons still write stuff about Bush still? He has his nut sack in all of your mouths even after 3 years of him being gone. LMAO, I can't wait to bash Biden when the whole election thing starts. That man right there is a true imbicile. in every sense of the word.
@Trouble46545 you hope you pray you beg we have a change in Nov. I don't know about you I don't think my stomach can take 4 more years of OVOMIT...
Why the hell was Dan Rowland 1.4 collapsed? he stated indisputable fact!
The revelation of President Obama's transcript is NOT legally requisite! ie: none of your damn business OR mine!
They all look like Easter Island statues, hats and all. Prolly brains and all too.