The family resemblance is definitely there, although Kim Yo-jong is much thinner than her brother, the North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong-un. In photographs of this most mysterious of first families, Yo-jong, who since her appointment to the Politburo is probably North Korea’s most powerful woman, you can see the sibling resemblance.
Her appointment to the top echelons of power shows that her brother is keen to copper-fasten the family’s complete control of the domestic power structure as it resists international pressure to abandon the nuclear weapons programme that has been the defining feature of his government since he took over following the death of their father, the strongman Kim Jong-il, in December 2011.
The Kim family is into its third generation of control of North Korea, making it Asia’s most successful communist dynasty. Along with Kim’s wife, Ri Sol-ju, Yo-jong is the only remaining relative in the nuclear-armed state who remains close to the leader, in a family that almost defines the phrase “toxic relationships”.
Kim Jong-un had their uncle Jang Song-thaek blown up with howitzers after he fell out of favour with the young leader. Some say he was then fed to dogs.
Earlier this year, her brother apparently ordered the execution of their half-brother Kim Jong-nam, with assassins smearing him with the deadly toxin VX at Kuala Lumpur airport in Malaysia.
Yo-Jong’s early life
Details are sketchy, but Yo-jong was born between 1987 and 1989, the youngest daughter of Kim Jong-il and Ko Yong-hui, his third and favourite consort. Yo-jong and her brother went to the same international school in the Swiss capital Berne in the late 1990s, where she went by the name Kim Yong-sun.
After completing sixth grade, Yo-jong returned to North Korea and is believed to have taken classes at the Kim Il-sung University. There were various appearances over the years, but it was during the mourning period for Kim Jong-il that she really came to prominence.
Currently she acts in a chief-of-staff role for her brother, a position known as chief secretary.
“She presently works in Kim Jong-un’s executive office where she manages his public appearances – including his itineraries, schedule, logistical needs and security arrangements,” writes Michael Madden in his North Korea Leadership Watch blog.
This is not a policymaking role but is deeply influential because she has access to high-level reports from all the most senior ministries, and she is the first family member to hold the position, a sign that Jong-un is keen to bring even more power into the family. She organises Jong-un’s public appearances and works as his political adviser.
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