KOREA TIMES (South Korea), TWITTER
More than two weeks after the first photos of the couple surfaced, North Korean state media has announced that the nation's young leader Kim Jong-un is indeed married to “Comrade Ri Sol-ju.” The couple had been photographed together early July at a concert, during a visit to an amusement park construction site and at a kindergarten, reports the Korea Times.
Here are some snarky details from Australian Broadcasting Corporation correspondent in Northern Asia:
Kim Jong-un has so far taken his wife to a Mickey Mouse concert, a mausoleum, a kindergarten, and an amusement park. What a honeymoon
— Mark Willacy (@markwillacy) July 25, 2012
Cheong Seong-chang, a senior research fellow at the Sejong Institute, identified the young lady as a 27-year-old graduate of Kim Il-sung University, says the newspaper.
Here is a photo of the young North Korean woman that allegedly broke Kim Jong Un's heart... #LoveIsInTheAir twitter.com/russian_market…
— Russian Market (@russian_market) July 25, 2012
“Two highly credible sources confirmed that she is the North’s first lady. She is from an upper-class family, with a father who is a professor and her mother an obstetrician,” said Cheong Seong-chang.
Cheong said Ri married Kim in 2009 and gave birth to a child the following year.
“The late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il arranged his youngest son’s marriage in a hurry after suffering a stroke in 2008,” according to Cheong.
This is a video of Ri Sol-ju performing at a New Year's Eve Concert in 2011 :
