Kim Jong-Un Lived Longer in Switzerland Than Reported
By wchung | 03 Oct, 2025

The use of pseudonyms misled the world as to the length of time North Korean leader Kim Jong-un spent in Swiss schools, reported Swiss newspapers Sunday.

Jong-un was only eight or nine when he first travelled to Switzerland in 1991, reported Le Matin Dimanche and the SonntagsZeitung based on Swiss police documents. Until now Kim was thought to have begun his Swiss education in 1998.

The earlier reports of Kim’s stay in Swiss schools was derived from a report by a December statement by local education director Ueli Studer to Reuters that a boy known as Pak Un had attended a school in Berne from 1998 until late 2000. The boy had been registered as the son of a North Korean embassy employee. The link to Kim Jong-un was made through the accounts of school friends and a scientific comparison of a school photo and current pictures of the N. Korean leader, according to local newspapers.

But Sunday’s latest newspaper accounts of Kim’s entry into Switzerland in 1991 was unable to provide information as to which schools he had attended between 1991 and 1998. They were unable to obtain answers about Jong-un’s enrollment from Berne’s international school which had been attended by his older brother.

The duration of Kim’s education in Switzerland is deemed to have a bearing on his mindset and the likelihood that he will seek to reform his nation as its leader. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, for one, believes that Kim’s long early years in Switzerland may lead to his seeking reforms despite the recent rocket launch and the threat of a new nuclear test.

So little is known about N. Korea’s young leader that even his age of 28 or 29 is a best estimate extrapolated from known data.