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Subscribe to RSSNorth Korean leader Kim Jong Un is apparently a married man now that state media announced the leader toured an amusement park with his "wife, comrade Ri Sol Ju." NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.
Updated at 7:27 a.m. ET: SEOUL, South Korea – Public appearances by Ri Sol Ju, the wife of leader Kim Jong Un, were reported by North Korean state media for the first time in two months on Tuesday amid mounting speculation that she had been chastised for inappropriate conduct or that she may be pregnant.
Her once-frequent appearances with her husband in public reported in state media had marked the starkest break by the North's leadership from the dour image of Kim's father, Kim Jong Il, who was rarely seen in public with any of his wives.
Ri attended football match and a musical concert with Kim Jong Un on Monday. Their appearance at the concert "drew a thunderous cheer from the audience", the official KCNA news agency said on Tuesday.
Kim Jong Un gets married, visits amusement park, state media reports
Activities and public appearances in choreographed media reports give rare indications of events inside the reclusive state, which is locked in a stand-off with its neighbors and the West over its nuclear weapons programme.
Kim Jong Il, who died in December, had suffered a stroke in 2008 which was followed by a sudden disappearance from media until re-emerging in early 2009 appearing gaunt and ill.
Monday's events in Pyongyang and his visit to a military college were also the first public appearance by the young new leader Kim Jong Un himself in about two weeks. He looked healthy and confident in photos accompanying reports over four pages in the Tuesday's edition of the official Rodong Sinmun newspaper.
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South Korea's intelligence agency had joined the fray of speculation over the sudden disappearance of Ri from state media since early September saying state elders may have raised an issue over her casual and cheerful demeanour portrayed in media.
"The analysis has been that there was concern over breach of discipline [by Ri] among North Korean elders, plus the speculation of pregnancy," South Korea's Chosun Ilbo newspaper quoted the National Intelligence Service as reporting in a closed-door briefing to parliament.
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North Korea broke the mystery surrounding a young woman who had been seen with Kim in July by saying she was the leader's wife. The announcement itself was part of a trend that Kim has followed to break out of the secretive management style of his father.
North Korea's state media have not disclosed when the two got married or whether they had any children.
David Guttenfelder / AP
In this March 9, 2011 photo, a girl plays the piano inside the Changgwang Elementary School in Pyongyang, North Korea. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)
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Sexy Lady, Oppa is Gangnam style!!
Wouldn't want to be casual and cheerful now would we? Might start a trend away from dour and sourpuss.
I guess we don't really know who is running the show in North Korea. If Kim Jong Un's wife can be chastised for inappropriate conduct, I would say the Kim Jong Un is just a figure head. The question is, who holds the power, who pulls the strings?
in North Korea if your not sure who holds the power you'll soon find out ... http://www.theprovince.com/news/North+Korea+executes+army+leader/7444298/story.html
My thoughts exactly dkelly
She is very pretty.
With this bunch of communist weirdo's one never knows what is really going on and neither do the people there. They are the saddest and angriest looking people anywhere. Imagine living a life where you always have to pretend how wonderful everything is!
What kind of dictator lets his wife get fired? wtf? lol
I'd be hittin her gangam style on a hill of bread while the whole country starves!! And would not give a fok!!
Wished the media wouldn't talk about North Korea. Mainly because we might lose our remaining American Companies when they find out these people will work for $1.25 an hour, 16 hours shifts,seven days a week with no over time pay.