Kim Sol-song (; born 30 December 1974) is the daughter of

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

's former leader

Kim Jong-il Kim Jong-il (; ; ; born Yuri Irsenovich Kim;, 16 February 1941 – 17 December 2011) was a North Korean politician who was the second supreme leader of North Korea from 1994 to 2011. He led North Korea from the 1994 death of his father Kim ...

and

Kim Young-sook Kim Young-sook (; born 1947) was the second wife of Kim Jong-il. She was the daughter of a high-ranking military official, and was a switchboard operator in North Hamgyong Province before moving to Pyongyang. Kim Jong-il's father, Kim Il-sun ...

. She has been active within the

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...

department, been in charge of literary affairs, and previously led the security and schedule of her father as his secretary. "Sol-song" literally means "snow pine", and the name was given by her grandfather,

Kim Il-sung Kim Il-sung (; , ; born Kim Song-ju, ; 15 April 1912 – 8 July 1994) was a North Korean politician and the founder of North Korea, which he ruled from the country's establishment in 1948 until his death in 1994. He held the posts of ...

. She was a favourite of her father. She attended the same school as her father, graduated from

Kim Il-sung University Kim Il-sung University, founded on 1 October 1946, is the first university built in North Korea. It is located on a campus in Pyongyang, the nation's capital. Along with the main academic buildings, the campus contains 10 separate offices, 50 l ...

's Economics Department and was assigned to the propaganda department of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea. She was in charge of literary affairs: all the signatures on works of literature coming into the department were signed by her. According to a

North Korean defector Since the division of Korea after the end of World War II, North Koreans have fled from the country in spite of legal punishment for political, ideological, religious, economic, moral, personal, or nutritional reasons. Such North Koreans are re ...

, who used to be a high-ranking official in

Pyongyang Pyongyang (, , ) is the capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is known as the "Capital of the Revolution". Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. According to the 2008 populatio ...

, Sol-song was in charge of the security and schedule for Kim Jong-Il since the late 1990s. In this capacity, she accompanied her father during trips to

North Korean Army The Korean People's Army (KPA; ) is the military force of North Korea and the armed wing of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK). Under the '' Songun'' policy, it is the central institution of North Korean society. Currently, WPK General ...

units and local villages. During these trips, she has been observed wearing the uniform of a

lieutenant colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

of the North Korean People's Army. Sol-song was described by a North Korean defector as "intelligent" and "beautiful"; Seol-song had hair down to her waist and is 1.65 metres (5 ft 5 in) tall, which is considered tall for a woman. According to a Korean intelligence official, Sol-song was a student in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, in the autumn of 2005.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kim, Sol-song 1974 births Living people People from Pyongyang 21st-century North Korean women politicians 21st-century North Korean politicians Kim dynasty (North Korea)

See also

References