By Cecilia Park
Ri Sol-ju, who has recently been public proclaimed as the wife of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, was allegedly previously married to a college professor, according to the Dajiyuan, a Chinese language daily in Los Angeles, July 30.
Kim started dating Ri in 2000 when he returned home after suspending his studies in Bern, Switzerland, the paper reported, quoting a report in the Chinese media. “But Ri was already dating another man, a professor in North Korea and later married him.”
The professor divorce Ri when she had Kim’s baby although he knew that Kim and Ri had been having an affair, the newspaper reported.
However, Korean authorities said that this was new to them. “We've never heard Ri was a divorcee. This is most likely to be fake since it might negatively affect the idolization of Kim,” a government official commented.
The official confirmed that Ri was born in 1989, which means she was only 11 years old when she was reportedly dating Kim.
Baidu, the largest Internet search engine in China, also brought up Ri's divorce on July 26 but took it out four days later.