Kim Jong-un 'reckless, has mid-high IQ': expert

By Park Si-soo

Kim Jong-un / Korea Times file

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is “aggressive and reckless” and has a “mid-high IQ,” a North Korea expert here claimed Wednesday, based on an intelligence report from Seoul’s spy agency.

Prof. Nam Sung-wook of Korea University, who served as president of the Institute for National Security Strategy (INSS), revealed these during a lecture for lawmakers of the main opposition Liberty Party Korea (LPK).

INSS is a state-run research center associated with South Korea’s spy agency, the National Intelligence Service.

Nam said the intelligence on the reclusive leader was collected by INSS researchers’ first-hand interviews with Kim’s relatives and friends in Japan and Switzerland. He didn’t elaborate.

“The INSS wanted to measure Kim’s IQ, albeit indirectly, because he could be North Korea’s king,” Nam said, recollecting the motivation for the research. “We estimated his IQ based on dialogue he had with other people ... And in conclusion, his IQ was mid-high, not so bad.”

The professor didn’t name a specific number.

He revealed why Kim was picked as the successor to former North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.

“Kim Jong-nam (Kim Jong-il’s first son) never stayed in Pyongyang for more than three straight months after he turned 10,” the professor said. “The second son, Kim Jong-chul, had a hormone problem after a car accident. So his third son, Jong-un, was picked up.”

The first son, the half-brother of the incumbent North Korean leader, was assassinated at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in February. The second son is said to live in Pyongyang, without political influence.

Nam said Kim Jong-un is aggressive, reckless and ill-mannered.

“When Kim was 15, he had a girlfriend who was one year older than him,” he said. “One day his girlfriend asked him to stop smoking during a phone call. Kim was provoked and immediately attacked her verbally.”

There are many accounts of his aggressive attitude.

Kenji Fujimoto, a Japanese chef who served Kim’s royal family between 1988 and 2001, said in an interview that Kim Jong-un threw a go stone at the face of his elder brother Jong-chul after he lost the match due to the brother’s flawed play advice.

Nam said Kim’s aggressiveness and recklessness would be the biggest reason behind North Korea’s continued provocations.

“The provocation will continue unless Kim is removed,” Nam said.