Kim Jong-un’s wife makes first public appearance in a year

s North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and his wife Ri Sol Ju watch a performance celebrating the birth anniversary of Chairman Kim Jong-il at the Mansudae Art Theatre in Pyongyang

Credit: AFP

Kim Jong-un’s wife has reappeared after more than a year out of the public eye — an absence that triggered speculation of illness or a fall from grace. 

Ri Sol-ju was last seen on January 25 last year when she accompanied her husband, the North Korean leader, to the Samjiyon Theatre for a performance to mark the Lunar New Year.

On Wednesday, state-run media released images of Ri watching a performance the previous day at Pyongyang’s Mansudae Art Theatre to commemorate the birthday of Kim Jong-il, her husband’s late father.

The photos showed the couple smiling and apparently enjoying the performance. 

Ri’s reappearance came just hours after South Korea’s National Intelligence Service briefed politicians in Seoul on the security situation in the North. Part of the report was dedicated to Ri’s low profile for more than a year, although it concluded that “no unusual signs have been detected” within the ruling family in Pyongyang. 

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, with his wife Ri Sol Ju

Credit: AP

“There have been a number of suggestions put forward for her long disappearance, with one being that she has had another baby, which would be her fourth”, said Toshimitsu Shigemura, a professor at Tokyo’s Waseda University and the author of a number of books on the Kim family. 

“It has also been suggested that she was nervous about going out because of the coronavirus pandemic, although the government says there have been no confirmed cases of the virus in the North," he said. 

Another rumour that has been aired is that Ri was sidelined because she was becoming something of an icon of style and fashion, which would have taken the spotlight off a man whose citizens are encouraged to refer to as the “Young General”, “Great Successor” or “The Dear Respected Leader”. 

Ri and Kim were reportedly married in 2009, about two years before he inherited the leadership of North Korea. In the early years of Kim’s rule, Ri was frequently seen alongside him on “guidance visits” to state farms and factories. She also accompanied Kim on his first state visit overseas, to China in March 2018, as she was groomed to take on the mantle of the North’s version of a “first lady”.