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What is Kim Jong Un’s sister’s role in North Korean politics? Top South Korean officials appear divided

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What is Kim Jong Un's sister's role in North Korean politics? Top South Korean officials appear divided

South Korean Unification Minister Lee In-young instructed a committee of South Korean lawmakers Tuesday that he believed there was not sufficient proof to attract such conclusions about Kim Yo Jong’s actual role in North Korea’s opaque political system.

Talking to a special committee on Tuesday, Protection Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo mentioned that he believed Kim was operating the Group and Steering Division (OGD) of North Korea’s ruling Employees’ Get together (WPK), the celebration physique that offers with ideological indoctrination, celebration group and political appointments. Working the OGD is one of the essential political posts in North Korea. If Kim have been in cost of it, it might doubtless be an indication of her growing standing and energy.

Kim has for years been a trusted aide and confidante to her brother. She beforehand served as considered one of North Korea’s prime propagandists and is now an alternate member to the Politburo — the senior physique of North Korea’s ruling celebration.

Speak of Kim Yo Jong’s growing role in North Korean politics has beforehand fueled hypothesis about her brother’s well being. Kim Jong Un traditionally has saved a grueling schedule crammed with public appearances, however he disappeared a handful of occasions from the general public eye earlier this yr, typically for weeks on finish. He additionally reportedly has a really unhealthy way of life.

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An unsurprising break up

Whereas it is uncommon for diverging intelligence opinions from lively authorities officials like Jeong and Lee to turn into public, the break up itself is not stunning. Authorities officials in South Korea and the US are sometimes compelled to attract conclusions about North Korea primarily based on little or no data, given Pyongyang’s infamous secrecy.

North Korea doesn’t make details about its authorities and management construction available to the surface world, nor does it maintain its residents often knowledgeable of key personnel choices. There is no free press inside North Korea to independently monitor and report on management modifications in both the federal government or the ruling Employees’ Get together of Korea. The nation’s propaganda machine strictly controls what data is revealed inside North Korea whereas censoring most content material from the surface world.

Jeong and Lee work in completely different areas of North Korea coverage. Jeong is charged with defending South Korea from the North, whereas Lee is chargeable for negotiating with Pyongyang and the doable reunification of the 2 Koreas.

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Although Jeong and Lee appear to disagree on Kim Yo Jong’s actual role, the 2 ministers — and the NIS — agree that Kim Jong Un stays North Korea’s final authority and retains a agency grip on energy.

Rumblings about Kim Yo Jong’s place in North Korea come because the nation is going through a number of urgent challenges which have critically impacted the Kim Jong Un regime’s promise to enhance the economic system and residing requirements for common North Koreans.

Borders have been closed for months to maintain the Covid-19 pandemic at bay. Nuclear talks with the US have proved fruitless. Lethal torrential rains have wreaked havoc on the nation in current weeks, and a hurricane is on the way in which.
Images released by North Korean state media Wednesday show Kim Jong Un holding a politburo meeting.

Kim Jong Un chaired an emergency assembly Tuesday to debate the pandemic and efforts to organize for Storm Bavi, which is forecast to make landfall Wednesday or Thursday because the equal of a Class 1 hurricane both on the west coast of the Korean Peninsula or in China. North Korea’s derelict infrastructure and poor street community make the nation extraordinarily susceptible to inclement climate.

Kim Yo Jong does not appear in any of the photographs released by North Korean state media of Tuesday's meeting.

Kim Yo Jong didn’t appear in any of the images of Tuesday’s assembly launched by North Korean state media. Whereas that does not essentially imply she was not current on the assembly — she might have been off-camera — Kim has not been reported current at a number of essential celebration conferences this summer season. Consultants say her absence is uncommon, however may very well be defined by mundane causes like sickness or having different enterprise to take care of.

Neither the North Korean authorities nor the nation’s state media has defined her absences.

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