North Korean despot Kim Jong Un reportedly had a third child after there was speculation over why his wife Ri Sol Ju, a former singer, disappeared from the public eye for several months.
![This file photo taken on July 6, 2012, by North Korean official Korean Central News Agency and released on July 9 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (C), accompanied by wife Ri Sol-Ju.(KNS/AFP/GettyImages)](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg.theepochtimes.com%2Fassets%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F08%2F149207206-1200x901.jpg&w=1200&q=75)
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Ri and Kim got married in 2009 before she gave birth the following year. Their second child was born in 2013, according to media reports.
The children, unless the regime collapses, will likely follow in the footsteps of Kim in North Korea’s communist-monarchy.
Dennis Rodman, the former NBA star, told reporters that Kim’s second child is a girl after he visited the country, but it’s unclear if Kim has a male heir to succeed him. His father, Kim Jong Il, and grandfather, Kim Il Sung, were both dictators of the communist regime.
“The gender of their new child is unknown,” the lawmaker told CNN this week.
Ri was partially educated in China. In 2005, she visited South Korea “as a member of North Korea’s cheering squad,” a South Korean lawmaker told CNN.
The report comes as North Korea fired a missile over northern Japan early Tuesday morning, prompting the Japanese government to warn its citizens.
![North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (L) inspects a Hwasong-12 strategic ballistic rocket at an undisclosed location in this picture released by North Korean state media on May 15. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theepochtimes.com%2Fassets%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F07%2F12%2FGettyImages-683246422-674x449.jpg&w=1200&q=75)
![The test fire of a ballistic missile at an undisclosed location in North Korea in an undated photo released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency on May 30, 2017. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theepochtimes.com%2Fassets%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F07%2F12%2FGettyImages-689969574-674x500.jpg&w=1200&q=75)
![Ballistic missiles in a military parade in Pyongyang, North Korea, on April 16, 2017. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theepochtimes.com%2Fassets%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F04%2F19%2FGettyImages-669024730-674x447.jpg&w=1200&q=75)
Since Kim Jong Un took power, his regime has fired off around 80 missiles—with all of them landing in waters nearby.
“If the previous launchings were for testing technologies, this one was a realistic demonstration of an intermediate-range ballistic missile capability,” Chang said. “In this test, the North’s missile actually flew at a realistic angle and trajectory.”