Kim Yo-jong

Kim Yo-jong received much publicity during the funeral service for Kim Jong-il in December 2011, appearing alongside Kim Jong-un and leading groups of senior party officials in bowing at her father's casket.[9] At the beginning of 2012, she was reportedly given a position at the National Defence Commission as tour manager for her brother,[13] arranging his itineraries, schedule, logistical needs, and security arrangements. She did not appear in news reports of the time except in November 2012, when the Korean Central Television showed her accompanying Kim Jong-un and her aunt at a military riding ground.[14]

Kim received her first official mention in state media in March 2014, when she accompanied her brother in voting for the Supreme People's Assembly. She was named a "senior official" of the WPK Central Committee.[15] In October 2014, she was reported to have taken over state duties for her brother while he underwent medical treatment.[16] The next month, she was appointed First Deputy Director of the party's Propaganda and Agitation Department.[10]

Kim Yo-jong (far right, upper row), South Korean President Moon Jae-in and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence at the 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony

In her role as vice-director at the department, Kim is responsible for "assisting in consolidating Kim Jong-un's power" by implementing "idolisation projects".[17] In July 2015, reports described her as playing the role of de facto leader of the department, with nominal director Kim Ki-nam in a supporting role.[17][18] She also holds a vice-ministerial post, but her portfolio is not known.[19] She regularly accompanies Kim Jong-un on his "field guidance" trips.[20]

Talks inside the Peace House in April 2018

She has been said to be the driving force behind the development of her brother's cult of personality, modeled after that of their grandfather, Kim Il-sung.[21] Thae Yong-ho, a North Korean defector and former diplomat, said in 2017 that Kim Yo-jong organized all major public events in North Korea. She was said to have encouraged her brother to present an image of a "man of the people" with, for example, rides on fairground attractions and his friendship with basketball star Dennis Rodman.[22][23]

In January 2017, she was placed on the United States Department of the Treasury's Specially Designated Nationals List in response to human rights abuses in North Korea.[24]

In October 2017, Kim Yo-jong was made an alternate member of the Politburo,[25] only the second woman to be appointed to this decision-making body.[26] As previously speculated,[27] her ascension to the country's supreme governing body may indicate that she is Kim Jong-un's replacement for his aunt, Kim Kyong-hui (with whom Kim Yo-jong is said to have a good relationship),[28] who has not played an active role in his regime.[23] It has also been hinted that her newly assigned position would also put her in charge of the State Security Department.[29]

On 9 February 2018, Yo-jong attended the 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in Pyeongchang, South Korea. This was the first time since the Korean War that a member of the ruling Kim dynasty had visited South Korea.[30] She met with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on 10 February and revealed that she was dispatched as a special envoy of Kim Jong-un. She also delivered a personally written letter from Kim to Moon.[31] Kim was later part of her brother's team during the 2018 North Korea–United States Singapore Summit[32] and the 2019 North Korea–United States Hanoi Summit. Her involvement in diplomatic affairs continued as she issued an official statement in March 2020 from her capacity as first deputy department director of the party.[33]

According to Kim Yong-hyun, a professor of North Korean studies at Dongguk University in Seoul, and others, the promotion of Kim Yo-jong and others is a sign that "the Kim Jong-un regime has ended its coexistence with the remnants of the previous Kim Jong-il regime by carrying out a generational replacement in the party's key elite posts".[23] Tom O'Connor of Newsweek echoed this opinion, writing that Kim Yo-jong's rise to power was part of Kim Jong-un's overall plan to appoint younger people in place of his father's older elites who may have harboured doubts about the younger Kim Jong-un's ability to lead North Korea.[34]

Kim with her brother meeting US President Donald Trump at the 2018 Singapore Summit

Kim was elected to the Supreme People's Assembly during the 2019 North Korean parliamentary election,[35] representing Killimgil.[36] In April of the same year, she was briefly removed from the Politburo, before being reinstated in April 2020.[37] She was excluded again from the Politburo elected after the 8th Party Congress and demoted from the first deputy department director to deputy department director on 10 January 2021.[38][39][40] But some commentators and analysts say her influence in the government remains unchanged.[41][42]

On 8 July 2020, Lee Kyung-jae, an attorney with the South Korean law firm Dongbuka, sued Kim for her involvement in the demolition of the Inter-Korean Liaison Office. Lee also sued Pak Jon-chong, Chief of the General Staff of the Korean People's Army. Lee added that Kim had ordered the liaison office destroyed and was "ultimately responsible" for its destruction.[43][44]

In March 2021, Kim condemned virtual joint military drills held in South Korea, calling them a "serious challenge."[45] She also warned the administration of President Joe Biden, saying, "If it wants to sleep in peace for the coming four years, it had better refrain from causing a stink at its first step."[46] Kim threatened to decommission the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Country and to shutter the Kumgangsan International Travel "and other organizations concerned as any cooperation and exchange with the South Korean authorities antagonizing us are no longer necessary." Kim also said these measures have been reported to Kim Jong-un.[47]

In September 2021, it was reported that Kim was promoted to be a member of the State Affairs Commission of North Korea.[2][48]

In September 2022, in response to South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol's offer to economically aid the DPRK in exchange for denuclearization, Kim made a speech before the Assembly on behalf of her brother recommending that Yoon "shut his mouth", commenting that Yoon had "nothing better to say". She additionally blamed the South for introducing COVID-19 to the country, and threatened that if the virus returned to North Korea, she would retaliate against South Korea.[49]