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Kim Jong-un, also romanised as Kim Jong-eun or Kim Jung-eun, (born 8 January 1983 or 1984), is the incumbent supreme leader of North Korea, as of 28 December 2011. He was officially declared the supreme leader following the state funeral for his father, Kim Jong-il. He is the third and youngest son of his deceased predecessor Kim Jong-il and his consort Ko Young-hee. From late 2010, Kim Jong-un was viewed as heir apparent to the leadership of the nation, and following his father's death, he was announced as the 'Great Successor' by North Korean state television.<br/><br/>He is a Daejang in the Korean People's Army, a military rank equivalent to that of a General. Kim is said to have studied computer science privately in North Korea. He obtained two degrees, one in physics at Kim Il Sung University and another at the Kim Il Sung Military Academy. At 28 years of age, he is the world's youngest head of state.
The Korean People's Army (KPA; Chosŏn'gŭl: 조선인민군; Chosŏn inmin'gun) constitutes the military forces of North Korea. Kim Jong-un is the Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army and Chairman of the National Defence Commission. The KPA consists of five branches, Ground Force, the Navy, the Air Force, the Strategic Rocket Forces, and the Special Operation Force. Also, the Worker-Peasant Red Guards come under control of the KPA.<br/><br/>In 1971, Kim Il-sung directed that 'Military Foundation Day' be changed from 8 February to 25 April, the nominal day of establishment of his anti-Japanese guerrilla army in 1932, to recognize the supposedly indigenous Korean origins of the KPA and obscure its Soviet origin. An active arms industry had been developed to produce long-range missiles such as the Nodong-1.<br/><br/>The KPA faces its primary adversaries, the Republic of Korea Armed Forces and United States Forces Korea, across the Korean Demilitarized Zone, as it has since the Armistice Agreement of July 1953. As of 2013, with 9,495,000 active, reserve, and paramilitary personnel, it is the largest military organization on earth. This number represents nearly 40% of the population, and is the numeric equivalent of the entire population between ages 20 and 45.