Kim Jong-un Swiss school days

Kim Jong-un spent his early years in Berne, Switzerland, where as a “shy” student he learned German, French and English, and honed skills in skiing and playground dispute resolution.

“He was a shy and introverted young man who liked team sports. He used to really admire [US basketball player] Michael Jordan and [action film star] Jean-Claude Van Damme,” said former student Ron Schwartz from Canada.

He was humble and friendly with the children of American diplomats and often helped break up fights between classmates, explained a former school director. A car arrived every day after school to pick him up, the report said; classmates and school officials thought he was the driver’s son.

Kim studied at the International School of Berne in the 1990s, but left in 1998 at the age of 15 before taking his baccalaureate exam, the equivalent to a British A-level. The Swiss weekly news magazine L’Hebdo reported that he went by the pseudonym Pak Chol. The boarding school welcomes around 300 pupils from 40 different countries, half of which are the offspring of diplomats.

[swissinfo.ch]

This entry was posted in Kim Jong Un by Grant Montgomery.