Kim Jong-Il's Son Appointed as a General
CNN reports:
(CNN) -- It was buried in the last paragraph by state-run media: The son of North Korea's "Dear Leader" has been promoted to the rank of general.
That kind of mystery surrounds the man who is widely expected to become the secretive communist nation's next leader.
"They don't release the information, so no one can know," said Kang Cheol-hwan, a North Korea defector and activist. "When he was little, he studied in Bern [Switzerland], in a school for the elite. He got an international education."
Little else is known about Kim Jong Un. Two photos of him consistently circulate in news reports outside of North Korea. That's because he's been kept off the radar by the North. Before Kim's promotion to general on Monday, North Korea's state-run media didn't mention him -- no family photos showing him as a youngster; no images of him by his father's side, learning to lead.
He is Kim's third and youngest son. He's 27 or 28 years old.
His grandfather Kim Il Sung ruled for nearly 50 years, and a mythic cult of personality was woven around him. His son, Kim Jong Il, took over after Kim Il Sung died of a heart attack in 1994.
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