Kim Jong Un’s family tree: What you need to know about North Korea’s dynasty
This picture taken on January 14 & released from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on January 15 shows Kim Jong Un gesturing from the tribune during a military parade
(AFP)
Andrew Jeong
, The Wall Street Journal
The North Korean regime has lasted longer than the Soviet Union despite economic hardship, human-rights abuses and sometimes deadly family rivalries
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The Kim family has governed North Korea since Soviet leader Joseph Stalin installed clan patriarch Kim Il Sung as head of state after World War II. To consolidate and maintain power through three generations, the ruling Kims have purged, coaxed or murdered rivals and elites, sometimes even within the family. To deter American-led military action and secure the regime’s longer-term political survival, they have driven the development of nuclear weapons. The family has led the isolated country for more than seven decades—longer than the Soviet Union existed—and remains unchallenged despite widespread poverty, an appalling human-rights record and the pressure of economic sanctions.