Much about North Korean leader Kim Jong Un remains shrouded in mystery, with the mystery surrounding his mother being particularly striking. In his 15 years of leadership, he has never publicly mentioned his mother even once. The legitimacy of the hereditary dictatorship appears to rest on the “Mount Paektu” lineage—named after the tallest mountain on the Korean Peninsula, which is considered a mythical birthplace of Koreans. This is also the site where Kim Il Sung, regarded as the founding father of the nation, conducted guerrilla activities against Japanese colonial rulers.
The mothers of the two previous paramount leaders—Kim Il Sung’s mother Kang Pan-sok and Kim Jong Il’s mother Kim Jong-suk—are both revered as “Mothers of Korea.” In stark contrast, the current supreme leader Kim Jong Un’s mother, Ko Yong-hui, remains largely anonymous. Her name and status are scarcely mentioned anywhere. The primary reason for Ko Yong-hui’s obscurity is believed to be her association with a stigmatized social class within Korean society.
According to various accounts compiled by biographers, Kim Jong Un’s mother was born in 1952 in Osaka, Japan. Her parents mainly resided on Jeju Island, which today falls under South Korean territory but was once considered a hostile region to the north. Ko’s family were “Zainichi Koreans,” ethnic Koreans who lived in Japan during the colonial period from 1910 to 1945. North Korea is a society that places great emphasis on social hierarchy, which some analysts liken to a form of caste system.
Analysts note that the Confucian-era concept of respect and veneration for one’s parents and ancestors is still taught to people there. Due to the secrecy surrounding Kim Jong Un’s parents, it is speculated by analyst Cheong that Kim raised his wife Ri Sol Ju publicly early in his leadership and is grooming his teenage daughter Ju Ae as a future successor.
