Kim Jong-un's sister Kim Yo-jong has disappeared and this can mean she has more power now, says expert
Kim Jong-un's sister Kim Yo-jong suddenly disappearing from the public's view in recent weeks could be another sign that she now holds more power and responsibility in her brother's administration, experts have claimed.
The 32-year-old, who officially serves as the vice director of the United Front Department of the Workers' Party of Korea, was last seen in public on July 27, when she stood beside the North Korean dictator as he awarded commemorative pistols to military leaders on the 67th anniversary of the armistice of the Korean War, reported the Chosunilbo.
However, she has been conspicuously absent since, with eyebrows being raised when she was not present as her brother discussed a response to typhoon Bavi and the spread of coronavirus in a politburo meeting on Wednesday, August 26. The meeting was attended by most senior members of the Workers Party but not Kim Yo-jong despite her position as a 'candidate' member of the politburo of the Workers' Party. Her absence was also noticeable because she had been present on all previous occasions to take notes of what her brother was saying.
While the disappearance of high-profile figures in the past has sparked wild theories that they could have been killed because they posed a threat to Kim Jong-un's authority, experts have said his sister's non-attendance at recent events could be her way of offsetting speculation that her brother has ceded some of his power to her.
"In the past, anyone was deprived of their position the moment they were described as the No 2 person in the North," said Prof Nam Sung-wook of Korea University. "There must be a semblance of checks and balances, although Kim Yo-jong is a family member."
CNN reported that, during a meeting on Tuesday, August 25, South Korean Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo said he believed Kim Yo-jong was running the Organization and Guidance Department (OGD) of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party (WPK), the party body that deals with ideological indoctrination, party organization, and political appointments. Running the OGD is one of the most important political posts in North Korea, and if Kim Yo-jong were running it, it would be a sign of her increasing status and power.
Those comments came following an assessment from South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS) that Kim Jong-un had decided to delegate more responsibilities to those around him to ease his workload.
Kim Yo-jong first started hitting the headlines in April following reports that Kim Jong-un had fallen gravely ill and possibly suffered a heart attack. She was being touted as a potential successor as reports emerged of a cold and ruthless streak that matched her brother's. "From what I’ve observed she is cold and ruthless and haughty," Suzanne Scholte, the American founding co-chair of Free North Korea Radio and president of the Washington DC Defense Forum, told the New York Post. "Her new aggressiveness is part of the consolidation and solidification of power. Kim Jong-un has to show that if something were to happen to him, there’s a successor and that the Kim family… bloodline is still in power."
However, another South Korean government minister insisted that reports that Kim Yo-jong is the second-most powerful figure in the hermit nation and is being considered as a replacement for her brother are "exaggerated." During another meeting on August 25, South Korean Unification Minister Lee In-young told a committee of South Korean lawmakers that there wasn't enough evidence to draw such wide-ranging conclusions about her position in the government.
