Chapter Six - Kim Jong-un: The Baby-Faced Butcher

CHAPTER SIX

Kim Jong-un: The Baby-Faced Butcher

HE WAS SUPPOSED to be a joke.

Too young. Too soft. Too Swiss.
A spoiled second son raised on NBA tapes, Apple products, and luxury cheese.
Even insiders thought: There’s no way he pulls this off.

They were wrong.
Deadly wrong.

Because Kim Jong-un didn’t just survive his inheritance.
He weaponized it.

And turned North Korea into something even more dangerous:

A dictatorship run by someone who’s young, insecure, paranoid—and completely unaccountable.

Kim Jong-un spent his teenage years in Switzerland, enrolled under a fake name.
He:

• Spoke English, German, and Korean
• Loved basketball (especially Michael Jordan)
• Watched American cartoons
• Ate Western food daily

He was soft-spoken, awkward, and mostly kept to himself.
Classmates remember him as quiet… and lonely.

But while he was studying abroad, his father—Kim Jong-il—was prepping him for the throne.

And the moment the old man died?

The mask came off.

Kim Jong-un didn’t wait to be tested.

He eliminated anyone who posed a threat:

• His uncle, Jang Song-thaek?
  Publicly executed with an anti-aircraft gun.
  (Yes, a gun meant to shoot down planes.)
• His half-brother, Kim Jong-nam?
  Assassinated in a Malaysian airport with a VX nerve agent, administered by two women who thought they were on a prank show.

That wasn’t just cruelty.

That was theater.
A message: I will not hesitate. I will not be challenged.

And it worked.

Kim quickly learned the formula:

Threaten the world → Demand attention → Get food aid or sanctions relief

And so began the era of missile porn:

• Slickly produced test launch videos
• Heroic slow-mo walks
• Music swelling as rockets fire

These weren’t military exercises.

They were trailers.
For the Kim Jong-un brand.

And the world watched.
And flinched.
And gave him what he wanted.

In 2014, Kim held an “election.”

His approval rating?
100%.
(Voter turnout: also 100%. What are the odds!)

Citizens were allowed to vote “yes” or… well, they could not.
But that box? It wasn’t safe.
Security watched you walk up to the ballot.

There is no opposition in North Korea.
There is no debate.
Only performance.

You clap.
You cheer.
You pretend to choose.

And in that pretending…
The regime survives.

Under Kim Jong-un:

• North Korea developed miniaturized nukes
• Tested intercontinental ballistic missiles
• Threatened Guam, Japan, South Korea, and the U.S.
• Posed with generals like a military Instagram influencer

But it’s not just about weapons.
It’s about ego.

Kim Jong-un wants to be taken seriously.
Not just as a leader.
But as an equal. A legend. A force.

That’s why the 2018 Singapore summit with Donald Trump wasn’t just political.
It was cinematic validation.

The first sitting U.S. president to meet with a North Korean leader…
shook his hand.
Smiled.
Called him “a very talented man.”

And just like that, Kim’s role on the world stage was locked in.

He wasn’t a boy anymore.

He was a god in the making.

The economy is crumbling.
Sanctions bite deeper every year.
COVID sealed the borders.
Famines threaten again.
And even the propaganda is starting to glitch.

The illusion is still intact…
But it’s straining.

And when the mask slips?
We’ll see what happens when a baby-faced butcher with nukes feels the script starting to unravel.