North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un’s sister could be the most brutal leader of the Hermit Kingdom if she succeeds him, experts told The Post on Monday.
Kim Yo Jong, 32, appeared ready to take the giant of power amid a claim that her older brother had been in a coma for months and his recent public appearances had been staged.
“I have not seen any evidence, no indication of how she can govern, but my speculation – given the reputation and history of the family – is that she would rule with an iron fist,” said U.S. Army Retired Col. David Maxwell.
Maxwell, who co-authored the Pentagon’s original 1999 contingency plan with South Korea for the collapse of the North’s regime, noted that there was widespread speculation that Kim Jong Un “would be more open to the outside world” at the time. he succeeded Il’s father, Kim Jong, in 2011.
“That’s not dry,” said Maxwell, now a senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.
“I think we have to assume that each successor is worse than the last.”
Maxwell also notes that the report on Kim Jong Un’s health “came from speculations of one former diplomat” – Chang Song-min, a former aide to late South Korean President Kim Dae-jung – and added, “We have no evidence seen that something happened.
Sung-Yoon Lee, a professor at Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, also denied the claim flat, calling it a “recurrence of a false allegation” that first surfaced in April when the reclusive leader disappeared from public view for three weeks.
“At the same time, it has been clear since a beginning of March that a contingency plan has been implemented to support Kim Yo Jong’s references and, if and when necessary, to seize the giant of power would make Kim Jong Un incapable,” he said. hy.
Lee described Kim Yo Jong as “ambitious and smart”, adding that she “casts a softer female glow on the cruel facade of her regime.”
But if she takes power, Lee said, then the nature of the regime ‘requires them to be compassionate, especially in the early years. ‘
“The way for them to build their credibility and net worth, that is, the way for them to gain respect, is not to play fun, but to be a cruel dictator for their people and a credible nuclear threat to the US, he said.
“She can prove herself fuller and more tyrannical than her brother, father or grandfather.”
Maxwell said it was unlikely Kim Yo Jong was behind this reported roundup of pythons from Pyongyang’s elite earlier this month.
“As [Kim Jong Un is] still alive, I’m sure he’s making the decisions and she’s not acting on her own, because the system does not allow that, ”he said.
Maxwell also said that although “South Korea has lost dog food for the most part”, the reason for confiscation of dogs in the north was obvious.
“It’s clear they have a food problem,” he said.
Lee questioned the veracity of the reported seizures, noting that it was “based on one unnamed source”, but said that, if true, “the order should come from both Kim Jong Un and his sister.”
“Not one else [would] ‘have the authority to issue an order that will affect many Pyongyang residents who own dogs for dogs,’ he said.
“Their father, Kim Jong Il, had a Maltese pet dog that he loved!”
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