The Trump administration said that the North Koreans wanted complete sanctions relief, while the North Koreans said that they were only asking for partial sanctions relief. This must include, he said, the mass production of smaller, tactical nuclear weapons, which could be used to fight a war against South Korea. In November 2012, satellite photos revealed a half-kilometer-long (1,600ft) propaganda message carved into a hillside in Ryanggang Province, reading, "Long Live General Kim Jong Un, the Shining Sun"!

He said: "We have serious concerns about the prospect of North Korea potentially selling weapons, additional weapons, to the Russian military. She is a woman, however, and this makes it hard to imagine her occupying the top position in such a deeply patriarchal country.One of Kim's classmates told reporters that he had told him that he was the son of the leader of North Korea. The South failed to shoot them down, exposing a weak spot in its defences and triggering concern among ordinary South Koreans, who are usually unfazed by the North's activities.

Yonhap has stated that, according to multiple unnamed sources, Kim Jong Un has also put to death members of Jang's family, to completely destroy all traces of Jang's existence through "extensive executions" of his family, including the children and grandchildren of all close relatives. The concert contained several elements of pop culture from the West, particularly the United States. Kim Won-hong, helps illustrate how difficult it is to predict how power would be shared if Kim Jong-un were no longer there.Kim Jong Un frequently performs symbolic acts that associate him with the personality cult of his father and grandfather.

In April 2012, new documents came to light indicating that Kim Jong Un had lived in Switzerland since 1991 or 1992, earlier than previously thought. In August, it was reported that Kim had ceded a degree of authority to his sister, Kim Yo Jong, giving her responsibility for relations with South Korea and the United States and making her his de facto second-in-command. The year 1982 (Year of the Dog), in addition to being 70 years since Kim Il Sung's birth, may be viewed as a better year than others, thus creating a motive to lie about a birth year.He is known for managing industries and ran the most isolated province, home to key military-industrial sites, for several years. The last round of denuclearisation negotiations collapsed in 2019, and ever since Mr Kim has shown no sign of wanting to talk.

It was once customary every December for the government to give each household an official one-page calendar marking the Gregorian and Juche dates, the latter named after national founder Kim Il Sung’s ideology of self-reliance and counting the number of years since his birth in April 1912. In September 2015, the South Korean government commented that Kim appeared to have gained 30kg (66lb) in body fat over the previous five years, reaching a total estimated body weight of 130kg (290lb). Despite the elder Kim's plans, it was not immediately clear after his death whether Kim Jong Un would in fact take full power, and what his exact role in a new government would be. The launch facility is about 900 kilometers (550 miles) northwest of Ussuriysk, but the route there is circuitous and it is unclear how long Kim's slow-moving train would take to reach it.The year 1942 (Year of the Horse), in addition to being 30 years since Kim Il Sung's birth may be viewed as a better year than others, thus creating a motive to lie about a birth year. Kim is sometimes accompanied by his younger sister Kim Yo Jong, [9] who is said to be instrumental in creating his public image and organising public events for him.