Who is North Korea's Kim Jong Un?

As North Korea tension intensifies dramatically, much attention is now focused on the country's leader Kim Jong Un, the third and youngest son of Kim Jong-il, the former dictatorial leader of North Korea. However, very little is known about the nation's young head of state.

Before Kim took over from his father, he had barely been seen in public. And even though he's been in charge for more than a year, there's been only few information about his personality and habits.

North Korean media calls Kim Jong Un "the greatest-ever commander." Dennis Rodman says he is "a normal guy."

But who is the real Kim Jong Un?

Here are top ten fun facts about North Korea's Leader:

1. His Date of Birth is a Mystery
Kim is believed to have been born in 1982, 1983 or 1984 as the child of former North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and his third wife, a dancer named Ko Young Hui. Kenji Fujimoto, a sushi chef who worked for his family until 2001 and later wrote a tell-all, claims he was born Jan. 8, 1983 — the same date as The King "Elvis Presley".

2. World's Youngest Head of State
Whether he was born in 1983 or 1984, Kim is currently the world's youngest head of state.

Obama says he doesn't believe North Korea has nuclear missile

(CNN) -- President Barack Obama has said he doesn't believe North Korea can fit a nuclear warhead on a missile, casting strong doubt on an alarming assessment disclosed last week by the Pentagon's intelligence arm.

 

And he warned the young North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that weeks of threats against the United States and South Korea had only served to isolate the regime further.

 

Asked in an NBC News interview whether North Korea could put a nuclear weapon on a ballistic missile, Obama said, "Based on our current intelligence assessments, we do not think that they have that capacity."

 

According to a snippet of a document read out by a congressman at a House Armed Services Committee hearing last week, the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency believes "with moderate confidence" that the North has developed nuclear weapons it could deliver on a ballistic missile, although with low reliability.

U.S. defense and intelligence officials sought to qualify the DIA's words soon after they were made public, saying North Korea hadn't "fully" demonstrated the capabilities mentioned. But Obama's comments in the NBC interview, which was recorded Monday and broadcast Tuesday, appear to be the strongest dismissal of the assessment yet.

 

Obama cautioned, though, that amid North Korea's recent dramatic threats, the United States has to "make sure that we are dealing with every contingency out there."

 

"That's why I've repositioned missile defense systems to guard against any miscalculation on their part," he said, an apparent reference to the recent decision to move missile defenses to Guam, a Western Pacific territory that is home to U.S. naval and air bases that the North has cited as possible targets for attack.

 

View the whole article here: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/04/17/world/asia/koreas-tensions/index.html