North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is surrounded by numerous mysteries, but the secrecy surrounding his mother is one of the most intriguing aspects. In the years since he rose to power, he has never once publicly mentioned his mother’s name. The legitimacy of Kim’s dictatorial rule relies heavily on his so-called “Mount Paektu bloodline”—a lineage promoted as the heritage of the Korean nation’s mythical founder. This report comes from the BBC.
In a country where this ancestral purity is celebrated as a source of national pride, the identity of Kim’s mother is not merely a secret; it poses a potential threat to the regime. According to legend, the history of the Korean people began at Mount Paektu. Located on the border between China and North Korea, this mountain is considered the birthplace of Dangun, the mythical founder of Korea’s first kingdom. Centuries later, North Korea’s founder, Kim Il Sung, reportedly used the mountain as a base during his struggle against Japanese colonial rule. State propaganda later claimed that his son, Kim Jong Il, was also born on the slopes of this sacred mountain—though various reports suggest he was actually born in Russia. For decades since, Mount Paektu has served as a key symbol legitimizing the Kim family’s rule.
Ryu Hyun-woo, a former diplomat who defected from North Korea, writes in his book Kim Jong Un’s Secret Vault that Kim Jong Un became the successor while in his twenties—without any significant achievements—solely due to the “Paektu bloodline.” However, the reality of his maternal lineage tells a completely different story. Hundreds of miles away from Mount Paektu lies the historic Japanese city of Osaka; it is believed that Kim’s mother, Ko Yong Hui, was born there in 1952. According to information gathered by biographers, Ko Yong-hui’s parents originally hailed from Jeju Island, located off the southern coast of present-day South Korea.
The family lived in Japan as Zainichi Koreans—immigrants of Korean descent who had moved to Japan during the period of Japanese colonial rule over the Korean Peninsula (1910–1945). When Ko Yong-hui was around ten years old, her family relocated to North Korea. They were among the approximately 93,000 Koreans who moved to North Korea under a repatriation program running from 1959 to 1984. They had been promised an ideal life there, complete with free healthcare, education, and employment opportunities. Initially, many viewed these immigrants from Japan with envy, as they had arrived with cash, clothing, and household electrical appliances.
However, they were simultaneously labeled with the derogatory term Jjaepo. In the eyes of the state, they were considered a group influenced by foreign and dangerous ideologies. North Korean society is rigidly stratified; many analysts compare this social structure to a caste system. This social classification is known as Songbun. Under this system, Jjaepo belonged to a so-called “wavering class”—positioned between the core (loyal) class and the hostile class. They were subjected to strict state surveillance and had virtually no opportunity to gain admission to prestigious universities or secure important government jobs. This reality stood in stark contradiction to the “Paektu bloodline” narrative long propagated by the Kim family.
Kim Hyung-su, a researcher at the Northern Research Association, notes that the ruling regime’s propaganda portrays the Paektu bloodline as sacred; thus, the very idea that the country’s supreme leader could be the child of a Jjaepo is inconceivable.
