He controls a million-strong army and runs a nuclear weapons programme but for years Kim Jong Un has ruled with a nagging sense of fear.
Unlike Kim Jong Il - his father whose reign became associated with a famine that killed hundreds of thousands in the 1990s - Mr Kim has focused his ire mainly on the North Korean elite and military, leaving his image among the wider populace relatively unscathed.
Mr Kim further weakened the power of the military hierarchy by transferring rights to operate foreign currency-earning businesses away from certain generals back to the ruling Workers' party, according to Mr Ahn, who formerly served in the North Korean army.
"This is his survival code. For Kim, the economic reforms are crucial to keeping power," says Kim Byung-yeon, a professor at Seoul National University and author of a book on the North Korean economy.
"Kim Jong Un's reputation is relatively good compared with his father," says Kang Myung Do, a high-ranking defector and son-in-law of former North Korean premier Kang Sung San.
Aged 27, Kim Jong Un succeeds his father as supreme leader of North Korea.
Pyongyang tests its third nuclear device; the first of the Kim Jong Un reign.
https://www.ft.com/content/ad7c7388-3335-11e8-b5bf-23cb17fd1498?segmentId=7ac5b61e-8d73-f906-98c6-68ac3b9ee271
Unlike Kim Jong Il - his father whose reign became associated with a famine that killed hundreds of thousands in the 1990s - Mr Kim has focused his ire mainly on the North Korean elite and military, leaving his image among the wider populace relatively unscathed.
Mr Kim further weakened the power of the military hierarchy by transferring rights to operate foreign currency-earning businesses away from certain generals back to the ruling Workers' party, according to Mr Ahn, who formerly served in the North Korean army.
"This is his survival code. For Kim, the economic reforms are crucial to keeping power," says Kim Byung-yeon, a professor at Seoul National University and author of a book on the North Korean economy.
"Kim Jong Un's reputation is relatively good compared with his father," says Kang Myung Do, a high-ranking defector and son-in-law of former North Korean premier Kang Sung San.
Aged 27, Kim Jong Un succeeds his father as supreme leader of North Korea.
Pyongyang tests its third nuclear device; the first of the Kim Jong Un reign.
https://www.ft.com/content/ad7c7388-3335-11e8-b5bf-23cb17fd1498?segmentId=7ac5b61e-8d73-f906-98c6-68ac3b9ee271
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