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She is a woman who can stand side by side with Kim Jong-un, a woman who makes people feel intimate at the first meeting, and we can see her figure in many public events and foreign affairs visits in North Korea.
She is the first lady of North Korea, Ri Seol-ju.
Compared with her husband Kim Jong-un, who looks humble on the outside but has an extremely tough style, Ri Seol-ju, who has a fair and round face and a smile between his eyebrows, has obviously become the image spokesperson of North Korea.
Li Xuezhu's appearance and low-key style not only won unanimous praise in North Korea, but also obtained more political capital for her husband Kim Jong-un, helping him quickly secure his position as the first leader of North Korea.
So, where did this mysterious North Korean first lady come from, and with what did she end up with Kim Jong-un?
The mysterious First Lady of North Korea
If you want to ask the most popular and criticized first lady in recent years, many people will think of a seemingly delicate, but somewhat unreal face - Kim Jianhee, who is now the first lady of South Korea.
However, the wife of the South Korean president, who made her stunning appearance in a white suit and skirt for the first time in May 2022, is no longer the "good name" she once was, not only riddled with scandals, but also becoming a "troublemaker" in the eyes of the South Korean people.
North Korea, which is separated from South Korea, has really become the strongest control group, and North Korea's first lady Li Xuezhu is in stark contrast to Kim Jianxi, and perfectly fits the image of North Korea.
In the eyes of many Chinese people, North Korea is mysterious and closed, and the domestic society is very similar to China's seventies and eighties, in this context, the requirements for women's image are naturally dignified and decent, low-key and generous as the main criteria.
Li Xuezhu is very consistent with the image displayed in various public occasions, both in appearance and in various public occasions.
With a silver platter on his face, a smile at the corners of his eyes, and a decent and energetic dress, Li Xuezhu's whole person is full of intimacy and motherly style, even if he stands in front of the first ladies of other countries, it is a scenery of its own.
In addition to the advantages brought by his beautiful appearance, Li Xuezhu's conversation when meeting with the wife of the leader of another country can often win the favor of the other party.
One of the most commendable is a photo of Kim Jong-suk, wife of then-South Korean President Moon Jae-in, speaking "whispered" to Lee Seol during the third inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang in 2018.
Although we don't know exactly what the two are exchanging, we can see from the relationship between the two throughout the meeting that Ri Seol-ju, the young first lady of North Korea, obviously gave a very good first impression of the experienced Kim Jong-suk, and the two got along very comfortably.
It is also Li Xuezhu's performance in these important public occasions that laid the first impression of North Korean women: elegant and dignified, low-key and full of connotation.
It can be said that Li Xuezhu is extremely successful in shaping the image of national women abroad, but few people can know about her private performance and life situation.
This also makes people wonder, where did this Lord Li Xue come from and why he was able to successfully sit on the throne of the first lady of North Korea?
Curious path to the top
If you want to become a representative of women in the country, beauty alone is not enough, personal talent, beautiful resume, clean background, are indispensable and important conditions.
These points, Lord Li Xue also met them all.
Many people have raised some speculations about her family history, the most widely circulated of which is the news revealed by the National Intelligence Service of South Korea: Li Xuezhu's father is a university professor, and her mother is the chief physician of obstetrics and gynecology.
Therefore, many people say that Li Xue's family is ordinary, of course, if this is compared with her husband Kim Jong-un, it is indeed very ordinary.
But with many ordinary families in North Korea, even in other countries, such a background is not bad, at least it is a relatively noble and wealthy family.
This also created a good living and learning environment for Li Xuezhu, so that she could receive a good education from a young age.
The first lady of North Korea has a good talent in singing, and then went to China to learn vocal knowledge, is a famous singer in North Korea, quite loved by the audience, Korean media even claimed that Li Xuezhu was known as "North Korean Teresa Teng".
It stands to reason that Kim Jong-il, the supreme leader of North Korea at the time, should have married the daughter of a high-ranking official to his son if he wanted to pave the way for his youngest son, Kim Jong-un, thereby expanding Kim Jong-un's influence in North Korean politics.
But the fact is that in the end, Li Xuezhu, who has an ordinary family, stood out and was designated as a daughter-in-law by Kim Jong-il, it is said that it is because Li Xuezhu looks very similar to Kim Jong-suk, the heroine of Korean anti-Japanese resistance.
According to Korean media reports, Li Xuezhu accidentally took a face with Kim Jong-il during a singing performance, thus winning the favor of the other party with his face similar to Kim Jong-il's biological mother.
Kim Jong-un's grandmother Kim Jong-sook (left) and Lee Seol-joo (right)
As the first "mother of the nation" in the hearts of North Koreans, Kim Jong-suk, who made great contributions to Korean independence and the War of Resistance Against Japan, enjoys a very high reputation in North Korea.
Under such circumstances, choosing Li Xuezhu, a face with a clean family and a very cordial face of the people, as the next first lady will invisibly win the favor of many people for Kim Jong-un.
Korean media said that there was another daughter-in-law candidate at that time, Seo Eun-hyang, who was a star singer of the North Korean Galaxy Orchestra, with outstanding appearance and good knowledge, often appeared in various important performance occasions in North Korea, and was also the next candidate for the mother of the nation who made Kim Jong-il's father and son quite favorable.
But in the end, Xu Yinxiang still lost at the hands of Lord Li Xue, because the other party looked like Kim Jong-un's grandmother.
After being selected as Kim Jong-un's wife, Lee Seol-ju, who was originally active on the stage, quickly disappeared, began a six-month special training course for first ladies, and then officially married Kim Jong-un in 2009, and gave birth to their eldest daughter the following year.
Facts have proved that Kim Jong-il did not misunderstand Ri Seol-ju, and this daughter-in-law played an active role in Kim Jong-un's subsequent assumption of the position of North Korea's supreme leader.
The political blessing brought by the "mother of the nation"
On July 6, 2012, at the demonstration performance of the Peony Peak Orchestra, the figure of an elegant young woman sitting next to Kim Jong-un attracted a lot of attention, and everyone was curious about who she really was.
The woman was later seen on the 18th anniversary of Kim Jong-il's death and during kindergarten inspections.
It was not until July 25 of the same year that the Korean Central News Agency finally announced the identity of the woman in a news report.
In the news reports, the woman called Li Xuezhu was the wife of Kim Jong-un, the supreme leader of North Korea who had just come to power, and also published photos of the two walking hand in arm during their inspection of Pyongyang's Ayara People's Amusement Park, which quickly aroused discussion among the North Korean people.
In the eyes of many people, this first lady, who is very cordial at first glance, is very close to Kim Jong-un, and the North Korean people are very willing to see such a mother of the nation.
In short, several tentative appearances and official public reports by Lord Li Xuezhu can be said to be very successful, which also makes Kim Jong-un, who rushed to the throne after the sudden death of his father Kim Il Sung, show his mature side.
You know, in East Asian cultural circles, marriage is arguably the most important sign of maturity for both men and women.
So in the days that followed, Kim Jong-un began to frequently take Li Xuezhu to various public events, and Li Xuezhu also showed North Korea and the outside world the fashion and elegance of North Korean women through his dignified image in each appearance.
Many North Korean women also began to use Li Xuezhu's dress as their image shaping guide, learning from the marshal's wife to dress, cut hair, and make up, and Li Xuezhu became a North Korean fashion icon for a while.
In fact, Mr. Lee's sudden public appearance, and even each change in image, is largely a signal that Kim Jong-un is signaling his determination to reform.
As the pillow person, Li Xuezhu, of course, knows her husband's goals, and actively cooperates with each other in every public appearance, creating a more three-dimensional leader image for Kim Jong-un through his dress and speech and behavior.
It also makes Kim Jong-un, who has always been tough, look more cordial in many cases, which greatly narrows the distance between him and the people.
I have to say that a woman like Li Xuezhu, who has rich experience in performing on a large stage, can always show her best side to the world in public, and her low profile also makes Kim Jong-un have no worries.
Some people may say that Li Xuezhu seems to be just an embellishment around Kim Jong-un, the iron-fisted leader, but we cannot underestimate the political blessings brought by a smart and dignified lady in the shaping of political image.
What's more, North Korea has always been mysterious to the world, and the development of Lord Li Xuezhu's career as the mother of the country, as well as the specific situation in life, is naturally not something we can know.
Li Xuezhu, the talented first lady of North Korea, won more national favor and trust for Kim Jong-un as a witness of her husband Kim Jong-un's mature leadership at the critical moment of the handover of the Supreme Leadership of North Korea.
And quickly laid the elegant and dignified image of North Korean women to the outside world, became a veritable image spokesperson of North Korea, and is a well-deserved "mother of the country" of North Korea.
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