'He couldn't speak English, didn't pass any exams and was obsessed with
basketball and computer games': Kim Jong Un's Swiss school days revealed
By ALLAN
HALL
Last updated
at 4:14 PM on 22nd December 2011
He is the
heir poised to become the next leader of rogue state North Korea.
But a probe
into the school days of Kim Jong Un - youngest son of dictator Kim Jong Il -
proves he is little more than an academic failure who squandered his education
playing computer games and basketball.
The
baby-faced 28-year-old first stepped out of his father's shadow in September
last year to appear in public in the capital Pyongyang as thousands of
goose-stepping troops marched by to mark the 65th anniversary of the ruling
Workers Party.
Kim Jong Un
looked the part, dressed up in the uniform of a four-star general, and trained
in the operation of the torture camps and punishment gulags which fill his
blighted land.
But the world
will have to see whether his prolonged exposure to the west and its values
during his school days in Switzerland have imbued him with any democratic
values that might bring his decrepit and starving country back into the
international fold after years of isolation.
But the signs
are not good. Despite having thousands of pounds lavished on his education at a
top private school in Switzerland, he didn't leave with even the equivalent of
a single GCSE.
When he was
just 15 his father took him out of the costly International School Of Berne,
where fees now cost around £16,000 a year. He moved him to a nearby state
school to save money but he was quickly put in the lower tier in class.
Wearing Nike
trainers, a Chicago Bulls sweatshirt and jeans, he was introduced to Class 6A
by the headmistress of Liebefeld-Steinholzi School near Berne. She lied:
'Boys and girls, this is Un Pak. He comes from North Korea and he is the son of
a diplomat.'
Kim Jong Un
took the empty seat next to Portuguese diplomat's son Joao Micaelo and the pair
became friends. Joao, who now works as a chef, said: 'We weren't the dimmest
kids in class but neither were we the cleverest. We were always in the second
tier.
'Un tried
hard to express himself but he was not very good at German and became flustered
when asked to give the answers to a problem. The teachers would see him
struggling ashamedly and then move on. They left him in peace.
'He left
without getting any exam results at all. He was much more interested in
football and basketball than lessons.'
A big fan of
star Michael Jordan, Kim Jong Un - who was once caught with a bondage
pornographic magazine in his school bag - proved to be a good player on the
basketball court.
He did shine
at maths but nothing else in class, and schoolmates remember that he needed a
lot of extra tuition.
One boy who
was with him at the International School said: 'It must have been 1993 when he
came to the school. His English was bad at first. He had a strong accent
and he was given extra lessons.
'He also
learned German and was OK in the basics of both - but just OK. His English got
better but not his German.
'He was good
in maths. That sounds like he was a nerd - but he wasn't. He wasn't so hot in
other subjects. I suppose in hindsight we could have nicknamed him Dim Jong-un.
One day he just disappeared.'
According to school sources, his father got fed up paying for an education that he thought was going nowhere. But there may have been another reason - his son's taboo love affair with American culture.
The North
Korean Embassy in Berne sent back reports on his son's friendships and
influences to his father and intelligence chiefs back in North Korea.
Joao said:
'We spent nearly every afternoon with each other. He often invited me back to
eat. He had a private chef who cooked whatever he wanted.
'Much of it
wasn't to my taste. Lots of chicken in strange sweet-and-sour sauces. He didn't
live at the embassy but in a flat in a nice residential area near the school.'
He in fact
lived in a large flat at No 10 Kirchstrasse, a sedate suburban street with two
pizza cafes, a bank and a Co-Op supermarket.
He added: 'He
was surrounded by the best gadgets that the rest of us kids couldn't afford -
TVs, video recorder, a Sony PlayStation. He had a cook, a driver, a private
teacher.
'But,
curiously, I never saw his room. We were mostly in the communal living
room. We watched a lot of kung-fu films - especially Jackie Chan movies.
He loved them. He had everything which we never saw coming close to our own
cinema.
'After school
we met at the basketball court and threw a few baskets, with both of us
pretending to be Michael Jordan. We were all envious of his genuine NBA
basketball, which must have cost more than £100.
'We spoke
about girls and about our grand plans. At weekends there were parties and a lot
of under-age drinking. But I never once saw a drop of alcohol pass his lips and
he wasn't interested in girls.
'He only
spoke about his life in the 'homeland' rarely. But I knew he had a certain
homesickness. On his stereo he only played North Korean songs. Western music
didn't do it for him.
'Most of all he listened to the North Korean national anthem, which we must have heard 1,000 times together. I only knew him in his alibi mode until one Sunday afternoon, shortly before he left for North Korea in 2000.'
'He pulled
out a photo of him alongside his father and said 'I am not the ambassador's
son. I am the son of the North Korean President.'
One member of
staff at the school, identifying himself only as Joerg, said: 'We had these
after-school discussion groups. I remember I was outside the school having a
smoke when this black, armoured Mercedes with smoked glass pulled up.
'Out stepped
'Un Pak'. He was surrounded by these dwarf ninjas. They scanned the street and
then led him up the path.
'That night
we talked about the responsibilities of democracy - you know, the right to
vote, the right to a common voice, the importance of speaking out.
'He never
joined in. He looked down at his shoes all the time and fidgeted, never seemed
easy. He was dipping into a bag from Loeb - that's the fanciest delicatessen in
Berne, the kind of place where you can spend 100 euros on a couple of salads.
'And at that
moment I thought of George Orwell's novel Animal Farm where, truly, some are
more equal than others.'
School
days: Kim Jong Un (circled) is pictured with friends during his time at school
in Switzerland
Home from
home: Kim Jong Un spent his youth in Switzerland and attended Liebefeld School
near Berne
Sporty: Kim
Jong Un was reportedly a huge basketball fan during his time in Switzerland,
with Michael Jordan among his favourite players
