Kim, who took over as supreme leader in 2011, has not celebrated his birthday publicly like his predecessors, whose birthdays are notable for great fanfare and military parades. Why Kim’s birthday has remained a secret is not known. In January 2020, North Korean officials thanked then-President Donald Trump for his birthday wishes for Kim but didn’t specify which day. Around the same time in 2014, basketball player Dennis Rodman sang “Happy Birthday” to Kim in front of a crowd of thousands before an exhibition basketball game in Pyongyang. That remains the only public honoring of Kim’s birthday.
