It is the person in whom Kim Jong-un more trust. She is his younger sister, Kim Yo-jong, the power in the shadow in North Korea and whom all point to as the possible successor to the supreme leader of the most hermetic country in the world.
How did a woman, in a closed system dominated by men, manage to rise so fast above the most faithful and experienced officials in Pyongyang?
Most certainly, it is a Kim. It is part of the dynasty and that, for now, is enough to be considered as the safest card to succeed Kim Jong-un. But having the last name is not enough.
Her political career began in 2014, when she was appointed deputy director of the Propaganda and Agitation department of the Workers’ Party, a charge for which she was condemned by the United States for “abuse of human rights” and censorship to hide “inhumane and oppressive. “
But in 2018 she made her triumphal appearance before the world media when she visited South Korea, being the first member of the Kim family to cross the border line since 1953, when the armistice between the two countries was signed, which technically still remain in war. But not only that. Kim Yo-jong was the representative of her brother at the Winter Olympics that took place that year in Pyongchang, South Korea, and that meant the beginning of the thaw on the peninsula.
Months later, she became Kim’s right arm during her historic meetings with her South Korean counterpart and, above all, with Donald Trump. She always by his side, carrying documents, advising him in the ear.
Swiss educated
Like her powerful brother, she was educated in Bern, the Swiss capital, and attended the Liebefeld-Steinhölzli public school, the same one she attended. Kim Jong-un, and lived in a modest apartment under another name. Her father, Kim Jong-il, is said to have called her a princess and had a special fondness for her.
According to the United States Department of State, he was born in Pyongyang on September 26, 1989. However, South Korean intelligence services indicate that he was born in 1987.
“The North Korean regime is a family business, and Kim Jong-un seems to trust his sister,” Leif-Eric Easley, associate professor of international studies at Ewha University in Seoul, told “The Guardian”. “She has demonstrated abilities to modernize the regime’s brand and has some influence on state propaganda. Her most important role is probably being her brother’s confidant. “
Kim Yo-jong is singled out as the brain behind the calculated image of her brother to her compatriots and to the world.
In the dome
On April 11, the North Korean leader chaired a meeting of the political bureau of the Workers’ Party, which functions as the country’s executive arm. At that meeting, Kim renamed her sister as a substitute member of this body, after being forced to have a low profile last year. Intelligence reports indicate that she had been removed from the post after the failure of the denuclearization summit between Trump and Kim.
Empowered again, she recently made her first public statement, condemning South Korea as a “scared barking dog” after Seoul protested against a North Korean military exercise with live fire. And in March, he publicly praised Donald Trump for sending a letter to his brother, in which he said he hoped to maintain good bilateral relations and offered him help in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.
“It is revealing that Kim Jong-un allowed him to write and announce a scathing statement about South Korea in such a personal tone, ”said Youngshik Bong, a researcher at the Yonsei University Institute for North Korean Studies in Seoul. “He is clearly ready to allow his sister to become his alter ego,” he told “The Guardian.”
Although other experts point out that the patriarchal tradition in North Korea prevents her from effectively becoming the country’s new leader, no one doubts her influence on the regime. “She cannot be a leader. She is a woman, ”says Lim Jae-cheon, an expert on the Kim family at the University of Korea in Seoul. But he pokes: “However, his role is very important. Kim Yo-jong is very influential.”
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