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On Saturday, Kim Jong Uno’s younger sister released an unusual statement saying it was “time” to cut ties with South Korea. She emphasized that the next action against the “enemy” would be carried out by the military, recalling the events of a decade ago, when North Korea devastated a South Korean island, killing four people and allegedly torpedoing a South Korean warship, killing 46 sailors.
The decision to raise Kim Yo Jong, who, according to the US Treasury Department. The 30-year-old USA informs the outside world that she is likely to be the successor to the family lineage if something happens to her brother.
The move also reminds South Korea that the Kim regime is viewing relations between the two Koreas as a personal matter, warning President Moon Jae-in of the dire consequences if it does not alleviate sanctions that are detrimental to the country’s economy. .
“North Korea is trying to change South Korea’s policy through intimidation,” said Chun Yungwoo, a former Seoul chief envoy for international talks on nuclear disarmament with North Korea. “Due to his kinship, Kim Yo Jong is the second most powerful man in North Korea and his brother’s largest administrator,” added Chun, one of the few people involved in negotiating a nuclear deal with Pyongyang.
A risky move
Such a geopolitical game by Kim Yo Jong can be risky. Kim Jong Un has previously turned on his family in 2013, ordering the execution of his uncle and former MP Yang Song Thaek after he helped Kim take over the leadership of the country.
So far, Kim Yo Jong’s constant advancement shows that her brother trusts her a lot. He was present during Kim’s official meetings with US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, and in 2018, he became the first representative of the ruling family to visit Seoul.
When Kim Jong Uno’s disappearance for three weeks in April raised questions about his health, Kim Yo Jong was most often mentioned as a possible successor to him. Rather than retreat behind the scenes, it has since become the main face of North Korea’s strategy against South Korea.
This month, the state media named her as the first deputy director of the Central Committee department of the ruling Workers’ Party. In his messages to Seoul, Kim Yo Jong took turns calling for reunification and threatening to cut ties.
North Korea seems willing to hope that it can put pressure on Moon to follow through on promises of rapprochement after his Democratic Party won a super majority in the National Assembly in the April elections. That would mean withdrawing from a United States-led sanctions campaign aimed at forcing the Kim regime to abandon nuclear weapons.
Moon sought to alleviate the conflict by accepting Kim Yo Jong’s demand that groups not be allowed to send withdrawals against the Kim regime in a hot air balloon across the border. On Monday, Moon attempted to persuade North Korea not to cut ties and create tensions that would only harm relations, promising that Seoul “would do everything possible” to continue the dialogue.
“North Korea can step up its military provocations,” said Yoon Sang-hyun, a member of the parliamentary opposition and former chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee. – We must be especially careful. We must not give them any reason that can justify the provocations. “
North Korea hinted at what it had in mind when it threatened to send its troops back to the demilitarized zone of the peninsula on Tuesday if the situation among its neighbors worsened.
Deep connections
The decision to allow such a sharp message to be passed on to a woman is a significant achievement for the Kim family, who have led a male-dominated society since the 1950s. Kim Yo Jong became a woman of the highest rank from the family, a rare case in which the sisters were allowed to remain in a prominent position or to be mentioned in the state media in general.
Kim Jong Un was also charged in 2017. He was ordered to kill his older brother and more serious rival, Kim Jong House. Former leader Kim Jong Il’s brother was found drowned as a child, and his brother lived in exile for several decades.
But Kim Jong Un and Kim Yo Jong spent most of their youth together. They were sent to Switzerland at the same time to study and both lived in a closed family area in the Wonsan area off the coast of North Korea.
Kim Yo Jong’s influence became visible around the world when Kim Jong Un in 2018 embarked on unprecedented diplomatic action. In March of this year, he responded to Trump’s letter by offering help in the fight against Covid-19, stating that the “close ties” established by the President of the United States with his brother were not a sufficient condition to resolve differences between long-standing enemies.
“We all knew that she was more than Kim Jong Un’s sister and that she was involved in party politics, but it was the first time that North Korea had revealed its portfolio of targets,” said Rachel Minyoung Lee, a former government analyst at USA USA Specializing in North Korea. . “North Korea has made it clear that it is responsible for South Korea’s affairs, and this appears to be giving more weight to North Korea’s policy towards its neighbor and the steps it is taking.”
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