Kim Yo Jong set to be second-in-command of N. Korea

It has been reported that the South Korean government is paying close attention to Kim Yo Jong, the first Deputy Director of the Workers' Party of Korea, as the younger sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his closest aide is likely to be appointed as a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee at the eighth Congress of the Workers' Party to be held in January next year.

Once Kim who was appointed as a candidate member of the Political Bureau to the surprise of many in 2017 becomes a member of the bureau at the age of 33, she will become the clear second-in-command of North Korea, rather than having influence in the background. The South Korean government believes that Kim Jong Un who established a one-man governance system at the seventh Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea in 2016, five years into his rule, will try to reinforce the governance system of the Workers’ Party led by the Kim brother and sister of the ”Mount Paektu Bloodline” at the next year’s party congress, the 10th year of his rule.

Kim Yo Jong who came to public attention for the first time as the First Deputy Director of the party's Propaganda and Agitation Department in 2014 was named as a member of the Central Committee of the party in 2016, quickly followed by a promotion to a candidate member of the Political Bureau with a new official title of the first Deputy Director of the party. She visited South Korea as an envoy of Kim Jong Un in February 2018 for the Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang and is practically serving as the second-in-command overseeing overall state affairs and being in charge of affairs with South Korea and the U.S. this year.

It is believed that Kim Jong Un who built a one-man governance system through the seventh Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea and the Supreme People's Assembly five years ago by giving himself the titles of the chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea and the chairman of the State Affairs Commission intends to systemize “governance by the party” – the power of which is concentrated on the brother and sister of the Mount Paektu Bloodline – next year, which marks the 10th year of his rule. Some believe that North Korea’s direct threats to the South and exploding of the Inter-Korean Liaison Office this year were intended to build achievements by Kim Yo Jong to elevate her status as a member of the Political Bureau.


Oh-Hyuk Kwon hyuk@donga.com