North Korea’s “Supreme Leader” is known for his distinct haircut and being the chubbiest fellow in a country of gaunt, starved people, but some facts about Kim Jong Un are less well known and more disturbing.

But it isn’t just what is known about Kim Jong Un that is surprising, but also what he keeps secret from the North Korean people. Some facts that would be innocuous about any normal person become much harder to explain for the supposed god-like ruler of North Korea.

His Birthday is Secret

Nobody is entirely sure when Kim Jong Un was born. Oddly enough, one of the most reliable sources of a birthdate for Kim song Un comes from his buddy, former basketball star Dennis Rodman.

Rodman claims that Kim’s birthdate is Jan. 8, 1983, according to the New York Times, while North Korean authorities have stated it is exactly one year earlier. The U.S. Treasury Department has stated he was born in 1984. South Korean intelligence tends to think Rodman is correct. Why exactly is it so hard to pin down? Perhaps because of Kim’s secret status within his family.

His Family Status is Secret

North Korea’s hereditary communist dictatorship was led by Kim’s father and grandfather before him, but the newest Kim dictator doesn’t have a clean lineage to cling to for his claim on Pyongyang.

“Nobody in North Korea knows who his mother is, nobody in North Korea knows his half brother Kim Jong Nam, nobody in North Korea knows that he is only the third son of Kim Jong Il,” former North Korean diplomat Thae Yong Ho told lawmakers in Washington, D.C. on Nov 1.

Kim has spent five years brainwashing North Koreans to believe that he is the only legitimate heir to his father’s dictatorship, and is widely believed responsible for having his half brother Kim Jong Nam assassinated in Malaysia earlier this year to rule out any possibility that he would become ruler.

His Existence Used to Be Secret

For years, Kim’s existence was all but unknown, not only inside North Korea, but beyond.

One odd consequence of that is that even after five years trying to convince North Koreans he is their rightful dictator, he has been unable to produce a single photo of him with his grandfather, Kim Il Sung, said Thae.

“Why? Because he was a hidden boy by his father. He was kept secretly and silently in Switzerland.”

Kim’s older brother was supposed to take the helm, but fell out of favor with his father when he got caught trying to use a fake passport to visit Disneyland in Japan.

His Swiss Education is a Secret

Kim is widely believed to have spent much of his youth going to public and private schools in Switzerland, a fact that is kept secret from the people of North Korea.

There is still some uncertainty about what years he attended and whether some accounts of his attendance have been confused with that of his older brother, Kim Jong Chol.

Having the supreme leader educated outside North Korea would undermine any claims Kim’s regime makes about the superiority of North Korea’s education system, so it must remain under wraps.

Reports about Kim attending foreign schools often mention that a person of his age and appearance was a huge basketball fan.

He Abuses Village Girls

The Kim regime has beautiful young girls culled from the countryside and sent to work in Pyongyang.

According to Thae, girls with physical beauty are identified at 14 years old, and if they are still considered beautiful when they reach 16 or 17 years old, they are mobilized and sent to Pyongyang to work in special hospitals or guest houses for the entertainment of the Kim family.

Thae said many villages consider it an honor.

“People believe that the Kim family can exploit sexually  their daughters, beautiful daughters. It is really [a] stupid system and culture. We should educate North Korean people how stupid they are by sending their beautiful daughters to the capital,” he said.

It is also decidedly feudal, as it was a practice used by King Yeonsangun regarded as the worst tyrant of the Joseon Dynasty.

He Conducts Gruesome Executions

In a country where death is common and public executions have been widely practiced, the act of state-sanctioned murder has become somewhat of a game to Kim Jong Un.

While fact and fiction are notoriously difficult to sort out in the secretive state, Kim Jong Un is believed to have purged and executed many officials, including his uncle.

South Korean intelligence officials claim that Kim had five senior security officials executed with anti-aircraft guns after giving Kim “false reports,” The Associated Press reported.  

“Bodies would be nearly pulverized,” Greg Scarlatoiu of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea wrote in a report.

“The gut-wrenching viciousness of such an act would make ‘cruel and unusual punishment’ sound like a gross understatement.”

From The Epoch Times