Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported on the 24th (local time) that North Korean Workers’ Party general secretary Kim Jong-un said that while he was studying in Switzerland, his close friend, a Swiss chef, had not heard that Kim Jong-un had a son.
Joao Michaelo, who was Kim Jong-un’s best friend when he was studying in Switzerland, was invited to North Korea twice in 2012 and 2013 after Chairman Kim took power, and is one of those who met with Chairman Kim and watched him closely.
Michaelo, who is currently working as a chef in Switzerland, said he met Kim Jong-un and his wife, Ri Sol-ju, during a visit to North Korea in 2012, and that he heard firsthand that Ri Sol-ju was pregnant.
He added that he had not met Lee Seol-ju during his visit to North Korea in 2013, and had heard that he had a daughter, but had not heard of a son.
Other Western figures who met Kim Jong-un around the same time also said they hadn’t heard anything about his son.
The person, who requested anonymity, said that Kim Jong-un often mentioned his daughter, Ju-ae, but his son never made headlines.
Michaelo, the son of an employee of the Portuguese embassy in Switzerland, is known to be Kim Jong-un’s best friend when he was a student at the Liebefeld-Steinhölzli public school in Bern, Switzerland, from 1998 to 2000.
According to an interview reported by the Portuguese media ‘Contacto’ in 2020, he was quite close to Chairman Kim’s house during his school days, playing games and having dinner.
When Kim returned to North Korea after dropping out in the middle of his 9th grade semester (2000) in Bern, Switzerland, Kim Jong-un confided to Michaelo that he was in fact the son of North Korea’s supreme leader, Kim Jong-il, and that his name was Kim Jong-un.
At the time, Kim Jong-un was known in Swiss schools as the son of the North Korean ambassador and used the pseudonym ‘Park Un’.
After Kim Jong-un returned to North Korea, contact was lost for a while, but in 2012, North Koreans came to the restaurant where Michaelo worked and conveyed an invitation to Kim Jong-un to visit North Korea.
Accordingly, Michaelo visited Pyongyang in July 2012 and April 2013, and at a dinner party with Kim Jong-un during his visit in 2012, “I had a conversation with my younger brother Kim Yeo-jung and my wife Ri Sol-ju.”
Michaelo revealed that he also played basketball with Kim Jong-un at the Pyongyang basketball court at the time.
Ken Gause, director of the US Center for Naval Analysis (CNA), an expert on the North Korean power system, told Kim Jang-jang that “there is a possibility that his son does not exist” and that accompanying his daughter Ju-ae to military events could be an attempt to make him an heir. revealed
Previously, the National Intelligence Service of South Korea reported to the National Assembly Intelligence Committee in March that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un identified the first son as a son, but a high-ranking official from the South Korean Ministry of Unification said on the 22nd that the existence of Kim Jong-un’s son was “a position that it is uncertain whether there is a first child or not.” .
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.