Organizations Cabinet Ministries The Kim family, officially the Mount Paektu bloodline (Korean: 백두혈통), named for Paektu Mountain, in the ideological discourse of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), and often referred to as the Kim dynasty after the Cold War's end, is a three-generation lineage of North Korean leadership, descending from the country's founder and first leader, Kim Il Sung.

[1] The Kim family has been described as a de facto absolute monarchy[2][3][4] or hereditary dictatorship.

[8] Kim Il Sung rebelled against Japanese rule over Korea in the 1930s, which led to his exile in the Soviet Union.

[10] The strong and absolute leadership of a solitary great leader, known as the Suryong, is central to the North Korean ideology of Juche.

[17] Scholar Virginie Grzelczyk wrote that the Kim family represented "one of the last bastions of totalitarianism as well as perhaps 'the first Communist Dynasty'".

[20] His father Kim Hyong Jik was 15 when he married Kang Pan Sok two years his elder.

[21] Kim Hyong Jik had attended a school founded by Protestant missionaries, which influenced his own family.

Kim Hyong Jik protested against Japanese rule and was arrested several times for his activism.

He was a founding member of the Korean National Association in 1917, participated in the 1919 March First Movement, and fled Korea for Manchuria with his wife and young Kim Il Sung in 1920.

Kim Jong Suk was born 24 December 1917 in Hoeryong in (North) Hamgyo'ng Province.

[16] Her husband Jang Song-thaek was the second most powerful person in Korea before his December 2013 execution for corruption.

Ko was the de facto First Lady of North Korea from Kim Jong Il's becoming of leader in 1994 until her death in 2004.

[27] On 13 February 2017, Kim Jong-nam was assassinated with the chemical nerve agent VX at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia.

[34][35] Two women, one Indonesian and one Vietnamese, smeared the agent on Kim Jong-nam's face; both women were released after it was determined that they had been tricked by North Korean operatives, who had told them that the act was a prank for a Japanese comedy program and that the substance was lotion.

In an interview with Finnish media in 2012, Kim Han-sol openly criticized the reclusive regime and the government saying that he has always dreamed that one day he would return to his homeland to "make things better".

[39] The middle son, Kim Jong-chul, was reportedly not considered in succession considerations due to his unmasculine characteristics.

Kim Jong Un made an effort to distinguish himself from the reputations of his father and brothers and has promoted the image of an academic who possesses a masculine and extroverted demeanor.

[8] In April 2020, a three-week absence from public view led to speculation that Kim was seriously ill or dead, but no clear evidence of any health problem came to light.

[40][41] He continued to appear in public rarely over the following months, possibly because of health problems or the risk of COVID-19.

[46] Some analysts believe that her new public profile is an attempt to present the Kim family in the fashion of a traditional monarchy[45] or a response to rivalries within the North Korean government.

[47] It has also led to speculation that she has been chosen as her father's successor, which could make her the first woman to serve as Supreme Leader.

After losing out to Kim Jong Il, he spent four decades as an ambassador to various European countries, until returning in 2019.