Kim Jong Un married Ri Sol-Ju, according to North Korean state TV
North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un (2nd L) and an unidentified woman visit the Rungna People’s Pleasure Ground, which is nearing completion, in Pyongyang in this undated picture released by the North’s KCNA on July 25, 2012. According to North Korean state run media, the couple is now married.
Kim Jong Un is now married to Ri Sol-Ju, according to North Korean state-run media and the Associated Press.
The announcement was made this morning with no further detail from the North Korean government.
No word on if Kim's wife is in fact the mystery woman he has recently been spotted with.
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On July 18, GlobalPost reported on a photo of Kim and the woman in North Korea's Rodong Sinmun newspaper. The newspaper didn't identify her. The "mystery lady" has also made front-page news in South Korean media, according to the Associated Press. With much speculation being made about her identify, South Korean intelligence sources told the Daily Telegraph that the woman is Hyon Song Wol, the former lead singer of a music group called the Bochonbo Electronic Music Band.
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But Steve Herman, Voice of America's Bureau Chief, who has been covering the Korean Peninsula and Japan, Tweeted that her name is in fact Ri Sol-Ju. There has been no confirmation on if it is the same woman.
According to the Telegraph, the band is responsible for a number of major pop hits in North Korea, the most popular song being a 2005 tune called "Excellent Horse-Like Lady."
Here is one of the band's music videos:
Today's news comes amid a series of highly unusual announcements out of North Korea, including a shakeup of the country's top military leaders.
More from GlobalPost: North Korea: analysis of a military shakeup
As GlobalPost contributor and author of Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader: North Korea and the Kim Dynasy wrote Tuesday, Kim Jong Un is also offering tantalizing hints of economic reform:
"The South Korean news organization Daily NK, which includes North Korean defectors among its staff members and news sources, has reported on popular speculation that an economic policy announced last month for establishing 'a new economic management system in our own style,' envisions either Chinese-style or Vietnamese-style opening and reform. Daily NK earlier reported that two civilian officials identified with leadership of some economic reform efforts around 2002 are back in high positions. An article in a leading Seoul daily, Joongang Ilbo, quoted unnamed South Korean government officials as suggesting that young Kim’s economic plans could have been behind his sacking of Vice Marshal Ri Yong Ho, operational commander of the military, an event that analysts had struggled to explain."
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