South Korea’s intelligence agency believes Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, is serving as his “de facto second-in-command” but has not been named as his successor.
Ha Tae-keung, a lawmaker from an opposition party in the South Korean parliament’s intelligence committee, told reporters on Thursday that Kim helped carry out the regime with mandated authority from her brother.
She is now responsible for the isolated nation’s relations with the United States and South Korea, according to an intelligence report quoted by the legislature.
After all, Kim Yo Jong in the early 1930s became the only close relative of the leader with a public role in politics, and recently spearheaded a new, smarter campaign to put pressure on South Korea.
“The ultimate rule is that Kim Jong Un still has absolute power, but a little more of his authority has been reversed compared to the past,” Ha said, following a briefing through a closed door by the National Intelligence Service of the South .
“Kim Yo Jong is a de facto second-in-command,” Ha added, in a transcript of comments seen by the Reuters news agency.
More authority over economic and military policy has also been delegated to several other senior officials, though at a lower level, possibly to reduce pressure on Kim Jong Un and help him avoid blame for possible failures, Ha said.
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Kim Yo Jong gained notoriety for her brother’s summit in 2019 with US President Donald Trump in Vietnam, when she tried to ensure that everything went well, including holding an ashtray for the North Korean leader at a railway station on his journey.
Her prominence in the campaign against South Korea this year marked a substantive policy role that goes beyond just Kim’s assistant, analysts say.
She issued her first public statements to spew criticism of the neighboring country, and the state media of the North portrayed her as a decision-maker.
In July, she offered personal views on diplomacy with the U.S. in an unusual statement in state media, saying her brother had given her special permission to view recordings of that country’s Independence Day celebrations.
When rumors and speculations arose in April about Kim Jong Un’s health, his sister was seen as a possible steward to take over the family dynasty until one of Kim’s children was old enough.
Kim Yo Jong is absent from the plenary session on Wednesday, NK News, a Seoul-based website that follows North Korea, said. That has sparked some speculation about a possible demo.
Five-year plan
Earlier on Thursday, state media reported that the North Korean leadership wanted to present a new five-year plan at a rare party congress in January.
At a meeting on Wednesday chaired by Kim, the Workers’ Party Central Committee decided to present the economic plan to the party congress.
The plenary assembly decided to call on the Festival Congress “to draw up a precise line of fighting and strategic and tactical policies based on the new demands of our development revolution and the dire situation”, the official news agency KCNA reported.
The agency notes that the economy had not improved in the face of “unexpected multiple challenges”. The goal of noticeably increasing the standard of living of people was also not achieved.
The eighth congress of the Labor Party will be convened in January.
The Congress, which was originally to be held every five years, is the main organ of the party. But the seventh congress in May 2016 was the first to be held in 36 years.
At that time, Kim Jong Un was elected to the newly created position of party chairman.
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