Kim Jong-un Consolidated Grip On Nokor Power

This month, North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un marks a decade since he succeeded his father, Kim Jong Il, who died of a heart attack on Dec. 17, 2011.

Photo Insert: Kim Jong-un appears more confident today despite North Korea's debilitating economic crisis and coronavirus surge.

At the time, Kim Jong-un had been in the public eye for only a year, following his September 2010 appointment as vice chairman of the powerful Central Military Commission of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK).

Though little was known about him then, Kim Jong Un’s grooming as future leader could have begun as early as late 2008, Naoko Aoki, a research associate at the Center for International and Security Studies at the University of Maryland and an adjunct professor at American University said in an analysis carried by Foreign Policy.

Some observers speculated that a 27-year-old with no leadership experience would have to share power with guardians or be guided by regents. Others hoped that Kim Jong-un, who was educated partly in Switzerland, would implement economic and political reforms that would change the direction of the secretive authoritarian state.

Ten years later, Kim Jong-un is still at the helm of North Korea—and the country has neither collapsed nor opened up. Instead, Kim Jong Un has consolidated power domestically, built up North Korea’s nuclear and missile arsenal, and improved the country’s relations with its traditional ally and largest trading partner, China.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, which has posed a major challenge to the country’s economy and could potentially cause a major health crisis, Kim Jong-un today appears more confident than ever.

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