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Post by Admin on Apr 13, 2020 18:47:09 GMT
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s powerful younger sister has been reinstated to a key decision-making body, state media have reported, marking her rise in the isolated nation. Long one of her brother’s closest advisers, Kim Yo-jong was reappointed an alternate member of the political bureau of the central committee in a reshuffle of top officials on Saturday, according to the official Korean Central News Agency. The meeting to decide on the appointment was presided over by Kim Jong-un, it added. Analysts say Kim Yo-jong is believed to have been removed from the position last year after the collapse of a second summit between her brother and the US president, Donald Trump, in Hanoi. “The restoration is part of Kim Yo-jong’s recent rise within the north’s hierarchy,” Ahn Chan-il, a North Korean defector and researcher in Seoul, told AFP. Kim Yo-jong acted as her brother’s envoy to South Korea at the time of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in 2018, which ushered in a rapid diplomatic rapprochement on the divided peninsula. She has frequently been pictured alongside him at summits with Trump or the president of South Korea, Moon Jae-in. But she only began issuing statements of direct political significance under her own name last month, which analysts said highlights her central role in the north’s political ranking. It followed her appointment as first vice-department director of the central committee of the ruling Workers’ party – her main role in the totalitarian state. Ri Son-gwon, who was named North Korea’s top diplomat in January, was also elected as an alternate member of the political bureau alongside Kim’s sister.
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Post by Admin on Apr 20, 2020 19:01:12 GMT
Since representing Kim at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, Yo-jong has not only acquired prestigious titles within the ruling Workers’ party. She is rumoured to be the brains behind Kim’s carefully constructed public image, at home and abroad. In return, she enjoys the absolute confidence of her brother, a leader capable of ordering the execution of his own uncle for alleged treason. As the world grapples with the coronavirus pandemic – with Pyongyang continuing to insist it has not recorded a single case – Kim Yo-jong’s ascendancy continues. Last month, she made her first public statement, condemning the South as a “frightened dog barking” after Seoul protested against a live-fire military exercise by the North. And in March, she publicly praised Donald Trump for sending Kim a letter in which he said he hoped to maintain good bilateral relations and offered help in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic. The publication of political statements in Kim Yo-jong’s name underlines her central role in the regime, according to Youngshik Bong, a research fellow at Yonsei University’s Institute for North Korean Studies in Seoul. “It is revealing that Kim Jong-un permitted her to write and announce a scathing statement about South Korea in such a personal tone,” Bong said. “He is clearly ready to allow his sister to become his alter ego.” But Yo-jong, who accompanied Kim to his two summits with Trump, apparently paid a price when his nuclear diplomacy suffered a setback. Last weekend, she was reinstated to the party’s powerful politburo, according to the state Korean Central News Agency, just over a year after she had reportedly been removed from the position and told to keep a low profile following the failure of the Hanoi denuclearisation summit. And she has not escaped the attention of US officials, who in 2017 placed her and other North Korean officials on a blacklist for “severe human rights abuses”. Internationally, Yo-jong has been a visible presence throughout the regime’s high-stakes diplomatic process with Washington and Seoul. At home, she has performed the role of propagandist-in-chief, burnishing Kim’s reputation as head of the dynasty that has ruled North Korea for three generations. “She has direct access to and strong influence on Kim Jong-un,” said Leonid Petrov, a North Korea specialist and senior lecturer at the International College of Management in Sydney. “She is not associated with his purges or military brinkmanship, but knows all about them. She is a trusted political figure who helps Kim maintain a positive public image when he is dealing with foreigners or South Koreans.” Yo-jong, who is thought to be four years younger than her brother, was rarely seen in public until 2010, when she was photographed attending a party conference. By the following year, she was a regular presence in her father Kim Jong-il’s entourage, and was seen mourning after his death in late 2011. But her journey to the heart of the North Korean regime had arguably begun in the late 1990s, when she attended primary school in Berne, Switzerland at the same time as Kim Jong-un, with whom she lived in a private home, attended to by staff and watched over by bodyguards, according to North Korea Leadership Watch. “They were virtually in exile together, both knowing what the future had in store for them,” Bong said. “They must have gained a tremendous sense of having a common fate. As a result, she has her brother’s unconditional trust.” Little is known about Yo-jong’s life during the period between her graduation with a computer science degree from Kim Il-sung University in Pyongyang and 2007, when she began to play a junior role in the ruling party. She is said to have been involved in arranging her brother’s succession as supreme leader after Kim Jong-il suffered two strokes in 2008, but was not mentioned by North Korean state media until March 2014, when she accompanied her brother during elections for the Supreme People’s Assembly. “The North Korean regime is a family business, and Kim Jong-un appears to place trust in his sister,” said Leif-Eric Easley, associate professor of international studies at Ewha University in Seoul. “She has demonstrated skills at modernising the brand of the regime, and has some sway over state propaganda. Her most important function is probably as a confidante to her brother.
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Post by Admin on Apr 27, 2020 18:58:02 GMT
She’s Kim Jong Un’s younger sister, and many observers say she could be the most likely choice. However, the speculation raises another big question: Could a woman, even the sister of the current leader, ever lead North Korea?
North Korea watchers began to speculate whether something had happened to Kim Jong Un after he missed the April 15 commemoration of the birthday of his grandfather, North Korea founder Kim Il Sung. He hasn’t missed the event since assuming power in 2011, after his father died from a heart attack. The speculation reached a fever pitch over the weekend with a fresh round of unconfirmed reports.
The disappearance came amid recent missiles launches and the North’s repeated claims that there are no coronavirus cases in the country—an assertion international health experts doubt.
South Korea, for its part, has repeatedly said there is no sign of “unusual developments” in the North. Moon Chung-in, the top foreign policy adviser to South Korean President Moon Jae-in, told CNN that the leader is “alive and well.”
But, there appears to be no formal succession plan in place in North Korea. Kim is believed to be in his mid-30s, but he is a heavy smoker, and some medical experts have suggested that he is obese and unhealthy. All of which means, even if Kim emerges unscathed into the public view in near future, attention will remain on Kim Yo Jong and others who might be prepared to succeed him.
Who is Kim Yo Jong? Kim Yo Jong, who is thought to be in her early thirties, is one of several children of the late North Korean leader Kim Jung Il. She is believed to be one of her brother’s closest and most trusted aides.
“She is, as best we can tell, a very capable and high-skilled member of the North Korean leadership—and is not one to underestimated by any stretch of the imagination,” Harry J. Kazianis, the senior director of Korean Studies at the Washington D.C- based think tank the Center for the National Interest, tells TIME.
She was born and raised mostly in Pyongyang, but is believed to have spent about four years of elementary school in Switzerland, according to the website North Korea Leadership Watch, an affiliate of 38 North, a North Korea monitoring project.
As Health Rumors Persist, Kim Jong Un's Private Train Located She is married to Choe Song, who is believed to be the son of Choe Ryong Hae, “one of the most powerful officials in [North Korea’s] formal hierarchy,” according to North Korea Leadership Watch.
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Post by Admin on Apr 27, 2020 23:56:47 GMT
She is married to Choe Song, who is believed to be the son of Choe Ryong Hae, “one of the most powerful officials in [North Korea’s] formal hierarchy,” according to North Korea Leadership Watch. She was largely unknown to the world until she was photographed at her late father’s 2011 funeral. But she has gained international attention since being thrust into the spotlight when she attended the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyongchang. She was also spotted with her brother at the summit in Vietnam with U.S. President Donald Trump in February 2019—social media users circulated memes of Kim Yo Jong “lurking” near her brother after she was photographed standing around a corner and behind bushes while he conducted business. Could a woman lead North Korea? Despite Kim Yo Jong’s pedigree, there would be many obstacles to a woman taking control, experts say. North Korea is a highly patriarchal society. Since its establishment in 1948, the country has been run by three men, Kim Il Sung, his son Kim Jong Il, and his grandson, Kim Jong Un. “It’s definitely possible that she would face some serious challenges to her legitimacy and power if she took over, even with the Kim family name,” Mintaro Oba, a former U.S. State Department official who specialized in the Koreas, tells TIME. Although details about Kim Jung Un’s family are closely guarded, some believe that Kim Jong Un may have a young son who could take over when he is old enough. Another possible successor is Kim Pyong Il, who is Kim Jung Un’s uncle (Kim Il Sung’s son and Kim Jong Il’s half-brother). Despite spending 40 years overseas as a foreign diplomat, he reportedly remains popular in the country owing to a resemblance to Kim Il Sung. Lami Kim, a former South Korean diplomat and fellow at the Wilson Center says that there is much speculation over why he returned to North Korea last year. “One scenario is that Kim Jong Un has been concerned about his own health and what would happen to his family and the regime should he die,” she says. “So perhaps he recalled his uncle either to succeed him, or to help Kim Yo Jung run the country.” Kim Jong Chul, Kim Jung Un’s older brother, who is best known for his love of the British guitarist Eric Clapton, is another a possible successor. He was passed over for leadership when his father died. “Until now, he hasn’t been considered leadership material,” says Lami Kim. “If Kim Jong Un were to die unexpectedly, I suppose it is possible that the North Korean elites would consider him for a figurehead position, though, at least for awhile.”
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Post by Admin on May 11, 2020 7:30:50 GMT
North Korea’s Kim Jong Un keeps people guessing as to whether he’s alive or dead. The Rocketman is equally adept at confusing analysts about the very different women in his life. Three formidable and beautiful women inhabit the tubby, 38-year-old despot’s inner circle, and one is both a pop star in the Hermit Kingdom and a possible Kim mistress. In recent weeks, Kim’s powerful younger sister, Kim Yo Jong, current head of the North’s powerful Organization and Guidance Department, which runs all aspects of North Korean life, has been front and center in the media. Many reports say she could succeed him if he died or was too sick to govern. But it’s his wife, Ri Sol-ju — who has been showcased in public much more than the wives of Kim’s father and grandfather — who has accumulated more influence than many realize, experts say. Their marriage was arranged, as is the custom in North Korea, and have two young children, possibly three. Ri Sol-ju is a former singer and cheerleader. In fact, a new book by former CIA analyst Jung H. Pak claims that Kim sees himself as a dashing Korean John F. Kennedy and his wife as a fashionable and chic Jackie whom he groomed to look and act like the iconic American First Lady. “I don’t think Kim’s wife has any ambitions of being a real political player but she has respect from the elite,” North Korean analyst Bruce Bechtol, a former member of the Defense Intelligence Agency, told the Post. “She’s absolutely beautiful and I think she and the kids would be safe if anything happened to Kim. They wouldn’t kill her like Kim’s uncle was killed. They might move her out of the country but that’s as far as they would go.” But complicating the roles of wife and sister is a woman named Hyon Song-Wol, roughly 43, who may or may not be what Koreans call a “big sister wife” — a mistress who is older than her married lover. Hyon, who fronts the all-female Moranbong Band, which has been likened to the Spice Girls of North Korea, was, like Kim earlier this month, also said to be dead at one point. She was thought to have been publicly executed by a firing squad along with members of her first band in 2013 for vague charges involving pornographic videos. But like Kim, reports of her death were greatly exaggerated. She surfaced not long after her apparent demise and is now a key aide to Kim — professionally and perhaps personally. She’s taken over the job once held by Kim’s sister, which is called “Director of the Event” in North Korea, involving organizing all major public events where Kim appears. Depending on whom you ask — and rumors and misinformation about the secretive North Korean regime are common — Hyon is merely an old friend of Kim from their teenage days or she may also be the last lover of his late father Kim Jong Il as well as the mother of one of Kim’s children. Some media reports have claimed that Kim and Hyon’s youthful affair was halted by his father but then rekindled after Kim Jong Il’s death in 2011 and Kim’s anointment as North Korea’s new leader. The strongest evidence yet that Kim Jong Un is a body double “Hyon is a very powerful woman,” said Jason Lee, a North Korean-born defector now living in the US who grew up as the son of political elites in Pyongyang and has many friends in common with the Kim family. “She’s definitely more powerful than the wife but she still may not be as powerful as the sister.” Unlike Kim’s wife and sister, however, Hyon would have the most to lose if Kim died or lost his grip on power, they said. “He loves his wife,” Michael Madden, the director and founder of NK Leadership Watch, an intelligence organization focused on North Korea, told the Post. “Kim’s almost sort of modern that way. But Hyon is definitely in the picture on some level.”
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