Sorry Ladies: Kim Jong Un Now A Married Man

It is well known that the man of every girl’s dreams is a pudgy country leader/dictator with a very kitsch sense of style and love for all Jean-Claude Van Damme… unfortunately the only man I know that meets those requirement is no longer available.

North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un is married, state TV reported Wednesday ending weeks of speculation about a beautiful woman who has accompanied him to recent public events.

Kim toured an amusement park with his “wife, comrade Ri Sol Ju” on Tuesday, while a crowd cheered for the leader, the news anchor said without giving any more details about Ri, including how long they had been married. The couple smiled broadly at each other as they walked through Rungna People’s Pleasure Ground, at one point watching a dolphin show. Kim also smiled and leaned slightly toward her as the two gazed ahead in the same direction. In another scene, Ri quietly looked down at her husband as Kim sat a bench and spoke to officials.

Kim’s several public appearances with the woman, and Wednesday’s almost off-hand announcement that he is married, are a striking contrast to the style of his father, Kim Jong-il, whose 17-year rule was known for its secrecy. The elder Kim’s companions and children weren’t discussed — including Kim Jong-un, who was virtually unknown before his formal introduction to the world in late 2010.

“Kim Jong-un is breaking with his father’s secrecy-shrouded leadership,” said Lim Eul-chul, a North Korea expert at South Korea’s Kyungnam University. “The revelation of his wife is a sign that Kim wants to show a more open leadership.”

Ahn Chan-il, a political scientist at the World Institute for North Korea Studies in South Korea, said the revelation of Kim’s wife suggests the North Korean leader is inching toward a “more Western-style” leadership. He said it also leads ordinary North Koreans to feel their new ruler is not someone eccentric or far from social norms.