SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – What happened to Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of the North Korean leader?
That is a question that many of those watching the cloistered, nuclear-armed country are asking themselves after it hasn’t appeared on absolute leader Kim Jong Un’s newly released list for the country’s powerful Politburo in recent days.
Some say Kim Jong Un may have downgraded his sister due to failures in general policy. Others, however, believe he may be concerned about her rapid and increasingly notorious rise as he tries to strengthen his domestic authority in the face of growing economic challenges.
Rumors that Kim Yo Jong is his brother’s apparent heir may be dangerous because “they raise the question of Kim’s control of power and health in North Korea,” said Oh Gyeong-seob, an analyst at the Korean National Unification Institute in Seoul. That is why, he said, that Kim Jong Un is slowing his rise to power.
The development is a surprise because Kim Yo Jong, who became an alternate member of the Politburo last year, was widely expected to receive a full membership during the ruling Workers Party congress that ended Tuesday. Politburo membership is considered crucial for high-ranking officials who want to thrive under Kim Jong Un’s government because he made important decisions at cabinet meetings, including the 2013 action to execute his powerful uncle Jang Song Taek and the 2012 purge of military chief Ri Yong Ho.
When the eight-day congress, the first of its kind since 2016, opened last week, Kim Yo Jong, believed to be about 32, sat on the leadership podium, standing out among the often elderly party cadres and overwhelmingly masculine. But when Congress announced on Monday a list of 30 alternate and full members of the Politburo, including 37-year-old Kim Jong Un, his name was not there.
Kim Yo Jong has not been purged or forced to leave politics, a fate that some officials have found under Kim Jong Un’s government, and she still maintains her membership in the party’s Central Committee, also a high-level body. But when she released a statement criticizing South Korea on Wednesday, state media identified her as a “deputy department director” for the party, a position inferior to her previous title of “first deputy department director”.
Kim Jong Un is urging his 25 million people to come together in defense of his leadership to overcome what he called his nation’s “worst” difficulties. North Korea faced economic shocks related to the coronavirus, a flood of natural disasters last summer and persistent United States-led sanctions on its search for illicit nuclear weapons. During the congress, Kim promised to expand his nuclear arsenal and build a stronger and more self-sufficient economy.
“The objective of the congress is to solidify Kim Jong Un’s leadership. If Kim Yo Jong had become a full member of the Politburo, all eyes would be on her … and Kim Jong Un probably felt it as a burden, ”Ko Young-hwan, former deputy head of the Strategy Institute for National Security, a think tank run by the South Korean spy agency, said during a TV news program on Monday.
Before little known by strangers, Kim Yo Jong has grown politically since his brother inherited power after his father, Kim Jong Il, died in late 2011.
The current Kims are the third generation of their family to rule North Korea, and their leadership is based on a personality cult established after their grandfather Kim Il Sung founded the country in 1948. His mythical “paektu” lineage, named after the name of the most sacred of the North mountain, allows only direct members of the family to rule the country.
Kim Yo Jong gained international prominence after her brother’s high-risk nuclear diplomacy with President Donald Trump and other world leaders in 2018-2019. At these meetings, her closeness to Kim Jong Un generated speculation that she was serving as chief of staff. of your brother.
In South Korea, she built an image as “a messenger of peace” after attending the opening ceremony of the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, becoming the first member of the ruling North family to visit the South since the end of Korean War 1950-53.
Last year, however, it abruptly changed course, launching tough diatribes against South Korea and pressuring the United States to make concessions amid a nuclear diplomatic stalemate. North Korean state media said she was responsible for relations with South Korea, and outside experts speculated that she could be handling US affairs as well.
In her statement on Wednesday, she criticized South Korea for provoking the North by announcing that it had detected intelligence that North Korea held a military parade or rehearsal for such a parade this week.
When unconfirmed global rumors about Kim Jong Un’s health escalated last year, some observers said Kim Yo Jong would be next in line to rule North Korea if his brother was incapacitated. South Korea’s spy agency later said that she was virtually the second northern authority, but had not been anointed as her brother’s heir.
“Kim Jong Un probably blamed his sister for tightening (external) ties, as she has made no progress in relations with the U.S. and South Korea,” said Kim Yeol Soo, an analyst at the Korean Institute of Military Affairs in South Korea. .
Whatever the reason for his apparent loss of office at the Politburo, many experts say his political influence is likely to remain unchanged thanks to his direct link to the Paektu lineage. There is also a feeling that Kim Jong Un could eventually give her another outstanding job.
Oh, the analyst, said Kim Yo Jong is probably the second most powerful woman in North Korea’s history after Kim Song Ae, Kim Il Sung’s late second wife.
“Kim Yo Jong can meet and chat with Kim Jong Un freely at any time … so we can’t help saying that she has tremendous influence,” said Oh. “As she gets older, her roles will be bigger.”
But, he added, her rise could end if she aspires for more power. “She has to be careful with that,” he said.