Six years after inheriting power from his father, Kim Jong Un has established his authority domestically, taken North Korea to unprecedented nuclear heights, and is now looking to flex his muscles abroad. Lap of luxuryBut unlike the North’s founder, whose youth was dominated by the anti-Japanese struggle, Kim Jong Un has led a life of luxury. School staff and friends, who were reportedly unaware that he was a member of North Korea’s ruling family, remembered him as a shy boy who liked skiing, Hollywood tough guy Jean-Claude Van Damme and basketball. He is said to have known that he would become North Korea’s leader from his eighth birthday, when he received a general’s uniform and the country’s military top brass bowed to him. That makes Kim’s journey to Beijing a diplomatic “coming out” ahead of planned summits with Trump and South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in.

Source: Hindustan Times March 28, 2018 03:33 UTC