Kim Jong Un’s younger sister has resurfaced in public for the first time since reports suggested she was bypassed for succession in favor of her teenage niece. This appearance took place during a ceremony where the North Korean leader granted his overlooked sibling a compensatory promotion.
Kim Yo Jong, 38, accompanied her brother at the Ninth Congress of the ruling Workers’ Party in Pyongyang, where she was appointed as a full department director, according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency.
Previously serving as a deputy department director, Yo Jong is anticipated to take charge of the state’s propaganda division. Her new role will likely involve overseeing inter-Korean relations and developing external strategies, as reported by South Korean media.
With substantial political and military backing in North Korea, Yo Jong has been one of her brother’s most trusted aides since he assumed leadership following their father’s passing in 2011.
Ahn Chan-il, a defector and expert on North Korean affairs, observed that this promotion is significant. It allows Kim Jong Un to maintain control over vital governmental areas while ensuring his sister remains content.
“Kim Yo Jong is among the few individuals Kim Jong Un can trust and depend on,” Chan-il shared with AFP.
Yo Jong’s promotion comes about two weeks after South Korea’s spy agency released a report that Kim was gearing up to formally appoint his 13-year-old daughter, Kim Ju Ae, as his successor.
Ju Ae is the dictator’s only child to have been shown to the public, with the teen already receiving the training needed to take over the Kim dynasty, according to Seoul.
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) suggested Ju Ae’s appearance at this week’s congress would be the final piece of evidence to demonstrate that she is her father’s true successor, but no reports have emerged so far confirming she was present.
Family treachery is not new in the Kim household. The dictator famously mounted an attack on his uncle and mentor, Jang Song Thaek, when he took over Pyongyang.
Kim had Jang arrested on charges of committing “anti-party, counter-revolutionary, factional acts.” The uncle was found guilty and executed by firing squad in 2013.
