North Korean media on identified the woman seen accompanying North Korean leader Kim Jong Un recently as his wife, …
"Un" is no longer the loneliest number that you'll ever do since Stalinist North Korea's supremo Kim Jong Un has tied the knot. What do you send the leader of the world's most secretive regime? If you're the State Department, you send concerns about the people living under his rule.
"We would always wish any kind of newlyweds well as they embark," spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters at her daily briefing. "But obviously, our concerns first and foremost are for the North Korean people, and our hope that conditions for them will improve and that the new DPRK leadership will make the right choice about opening the country and providing more for their people."
Did Kim invite anyone from the United States, which has championed ever-escalating economic sanctions meant to force defiant Pyongyang to abandon its missile and nuclear weapons programs, to see him formally become Un-available? Not so much.
"I don't think we were invited to the wedding, nor did we have any advance information," Nuland said.
North Korean state TV confirmed Wednesday that Kim was married, ending the mystery over the identity of a stylish young woman who has accompanied him to public events since a July 6 concert. The government-run outlet reported that Kim attended the opening of an amusement park "with his wife, Comrade Ri Sol Ju."As Agence France-Presse reported:
The couple was given a warm welcome, the official news agency said. "All the participants enthusiastically welcomed them, loudly shouting 'Hurrah!'" it reported.
A smiling Kim and his wife toured the pleasure grounds and watched a dolphin show "to the tune of joyful music" together with senior party, state and army officials and diplomats, the agency said.