Seoul (The Korea Herald/ANN) - Kim Jung-un, heir apparent to North Korean leader Kim Jon-il, allegedly had several plastic surgeries before his public debut.
The secret was revealed during a conference held by Royal United Services Institute for Defense and Security at London.
According to Ha Tae-kyung, representative of Open Radio for North Korea, Kim Jung-un was designated as the successor in 2007, and had about six plastic surgeries before making his first official appearance in 2010.
The purpose of the surgeries was to make Kim look more like his late grandfather Kim Ill-sung, the nation's still-beloved founder.
Fujimoto Kenji, a Japanese chef who served in the North, told reporters that he could not recognize Jung-un at the Labor Party Representatives Meeting last September.
Ha said that the North is going through numerous internal measures to consolidate Jung-un's leadership, while civilians are not fond of him due to failures including the currency reform, which led to massive inflation.
Ha and his team are traveling Europe, visiting Germany and England to reveal violations of human rights in concentration camps across North Korea.