Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong-Il and today, Kim Jong-Un, have each, in their own way, made North Korea

the most secretive and repressive country in the world.

But, little has been publicly confirmed about North Korea’s ruling family, so what exactly

do we know about the Kim Dynasty?

Well, all three leaders are marked by their extreme cult of personalities.

Portraits of Kim il-sung and Kim Jong-Il hang side-by-side in every North Korean home, office,

factory and public space, along with an estimated 35,000 statues of Il-Sung alone.

In school, North Korean children are taught that they were clothed, fed and nurtured by

Il-Sung’s god-like grace, and that he liberated the country from Japanese aggressors by singlehandedly

shooting down warplanes.

But in reality, Kim Il-sung didn’t fight in Korea’s anti-Japanese resistance or in

the Korean War.

This propaganda was created by the Soviet Union after World War II when they instituted

Kim as the first leader of what would soon become North Korea.

Kim continued this propaganda war for decades, solidifying his position as the country’s

“Great Leader”.

As such he slowly shifted away from Soviet socialism and replaced it with his own political

philosophy called “Juche”.

Juche, which means “self-reliance” is the idea that a country can succeed without

any military or economic help from foreign powers, and has been North Korea’s defining

policy since 1972.

In 1994, after the death of Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong-Il came to power.

The second Kim is often described as North Korea’s most secretive and ruthless leader.

He believed that the less was known about him, the less could be used to undermine him.

Kim didn’t make a single public speech during his 17-year tenure and even spread false rumors

about himself in an effort to remain elusive.

To this day, major details about his life, including his date and place of birth, remain

unconfirmed.

The so-called “Dear Leader” strictly limited North Korean’s access to information and

freedom of movement, and exacerbated the effects of a drought that killed as many as three

and a half million people.

He also expanded a system of political prison camps characterized by torture, hard labor

and sexual abuse.

When Kim Jong-Il died in 2011, his third son, Kim Jong-Un, became Supreme Leader.

Kim Jong-Un is best known as the dynasty’s spoiled young prince.

He is thought to be in his early 30’s and has reportedly spent millions of state-dollars

on imported luxuries, including designer cigarettes, expensive cognac, Japanese kobe beef and a

custom-designed yacht.

The third Kim has introduced some economic and political reforms, including allowing

limited foreign tourism, reducing punishments for returning defectors and allowing a handful

of media organizations to open North Korean bureaus.

However, Kim has largely continued his father’s and grandfather’s oppressive policies, and

most unsettlingly, aggressively expanded the country’s nuclear weapons program.

So how did the Kim Family become such a powerful dynasty in North Korea?

And what factors allow them to stay in power?

Find out in this video.

North Korea goes through all the motions of a parliamentary democracy while operating

as a theocratic dictatorship.

Clearly one does not disagree with the divine rights of the leader of a theocracy.

In this case, Kim-Il-Sun.

While North Koreans want to put a stop to the countless human rights abuses, mass incarceration

and widespread famine, there is no political method of doing so.

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