Meet Kim Yo Jong North Korea S Most Powerful Woman

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In an era when North Korea has begun to shift its focus away from its nuclear weapons capabilities to pursue a “charm offensive” aimed at transforming its global image, one person stands out: Kim Yo-jong, the younger sister of Kim Jong-un.

This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone following North Korea over the last several years. Many observers first saw her at the Pyeongchang Olympics, where she sat strategically positioned near U.S. Vice President Mike Pence. Yo-jong’s historic visit to South Korea challenged preconceived perceptions of North Korea’s elite. She was a symbol of a North Korea very few people could have conceived of: young, friendly, and charismatic.

Despite a rapid ascension in status shortly before the Olympics, Yo-jong is no newcomer to the North Korean political scene. She had been on the peripheries since Kim Jong-il’s rule, serving the government before being appointed in 2014 Vice-Director of the Propaganda and Agitation Department (PAD) under her brother’s administration. And, if her father is to be believed, she’s shown an affinity for politics since she was in her pre-teens. Since Kim Jong-il’s death, Yo-jong seems to have served as her brother’s closest confidant, a relationship built by their shared schooling in Switzerland. In addition to her roles in the politburo and Worker’s Party of Korea (WPK), she is also believed to be responsible for the shifts in Kim Jong-un’s image towards imitating the persona of their grandfather, Kim Il-sung.

Considering Yo-jong’s growing importance in the North Korean power structure, we present the following as a guide to her childhood and early upbringing.

A Controversial Ancestry:
Though nobody knows for sure, research strongly suggests Kim Yo-jong is believed to have been born in North Korea on September 26, 1987, as the youngest child between Kim Jong-il and his third consort, Ko Yong-hui. Yo-jong’s lineage is not well known in North Korea, and not without reason. Her mother was originally from the Tsuruhashi district in Osaka, Japan where she went by the name “Takada Hime.” Yo-jong’s grandmother is ethnically Japanese, while her maternal Korean grandfather, Ko Gyon-tek, worked at the Hirota sewing factory in Osaka under the Japanese ministry of war making military uniforms.

Ko Yong-hui’s Japanese ancestry, her status as a zainichi—an ethnically Korean resident of Japan—and her father’s role with the Japanese Imperial Army puts her firmly at the lowest tier (적대) of North Korea’s songbun caste system, despite her family’s repatriation to North Korea. Because songbun is tied closely with ancestry, Yo-jong and her brothers should also belong to this lowest class, notwithstanding their royal “paektu” bloodline.

However, due to efforts aimed at elevating the Kim family’s reputation, there were strict punishments imposed on spreading information about any member of the Kim family, including Ko Yong-hui. In the early 2000s, the North Korean government undertook a glorification campaign to present Ko as a “respected mother.” This meant avoiding the use of her name in an effort to erase all traces of Yo-jong’s heritage.

Early Childhood:
A great deal of research indicates Yo-jong was mostly raised under tight security in her mother’s Ch’angkwang Hill residence in Pyongyang, along with her two brothers, Kim Jong-chul and Kim Jong-un. Despite her family’s extraordinary wealth, what we know of Yo-jong’s childhood doesn’t read much differently than that of the average child of a wealthy businessman. The family chef, Kenji Fujimoto, wrote in his memoir that Yo-jong spent birthdays with her family at their Wonsan residence. Yo-jong was also doted on by her father, who nicknamed her his “princess.”

Just like her older brother, Yo-jong was sent to Switzerland for her education. While sources vary for the rationale for sending Kim’s children to Switzerland, there are two different possibilities.

According to Professor Nam Sung Wook of Korea University at Sejong, Kim Jong-il was concerned that if his kids were seen as anything but remarkable it could hurt his family’s reputation. After all, during the 1980s, the Kim family was still entrenched in the process of idolization. Therefore, to counteract any rumors that could hurt the Kim family’s image, he decided to send his children abroad, away from prying eyes in North Korea.

Another possibility is that the Yo-jong and her siblings were sent abroad because their mother worried that they would be unable to pursue a normal school life if they stayed in Pyongyang. Professor Kim Yong-ok at Hanshin University thought that he was likely as Yo-jong’s status would make a regular education with other children more difficult.

Either way, Yo-jong joined her brothers in Switzerland in 1996. Upon her arrival, she was placed under the eye of Ri Chol (also known as Ri Su-young), who served as North Korea’s ambassador to Switzerland in the 1990s. Chol is believed to have been responsible for making schooling arrangements for Yo-jong and her brothers.

While details surrounding her education are hard to come by, there are many pieces of information worth considering. Sawada Katsumi, a reporter for the Mainichi Shinbun, found that Yo-jong started attending Liebefeld Hessgut public school on April 23, 1996, under the pseudonym “Yong-sun.” Though Yo-jong initially took a supplementary German language class, she was later integrated into a regular third-grade classroom in 1997.

On a daily basis, Yo-jong was primarily looked after by her aunt and uncle, entertaining occasional visits from her mother. According to Yo-jong’s aunt, Ko Yong-suk, they would sometimes travel back to North Korea on special occasions such as her birthday. During those celebrations, Yo-jong would receive gifts from her father and other high-ranking North Korean officials.

At some point in her schooling, Yo-jong was transferred to Liebefeld-Steinhölzli public school under the pseudonym “Pak Mi-hyang.” She attended this school together with Kim Jong-un, who had transferred there from the International School of Bern. Yo-jong and her brothers also lived together at an apartment complex at No. 10 Kirchstrasse before her aunt and uncle defected to the United States in 1998. In an interview with Swiss historian Claude Longchamp, Victor Schmid—the homeowner who lived directly across from the Kim family in Bern—recalled seeing young children in front of the household playing basketball and seeing members of the Kim family in a black Volkswagen. Yo-jong was not among the children seen playing outside, indicating that she was likely a bit too young to actively engage in activities with her two older brothers.

In interviews with the press, Yo-jong’s aunt and uncle both noted the difference in personality between Yo-jong and her brother. They stated that while Kim Jong-un was a rowdy child infatuated with sports, Yo-jong was more reserved. Some of her formative personality seems to have been retained in adulthood, as she has appeared friendly but clearly reserved in public appearances.

Resource: Nationalinterest



Rise to Power:
Though Ms. Kim’s meteoric rise to power began after the death of her father, she was likely groomed for a high-ranking role within DPRK leadership since her time in college. At the very least, she began performing administrative tasks on behalf of her aunt or father. Before her promotion to a position on the National Defense Commission in 2012, she sometimes accompanied her father as a member of his personal secretariat, attending inspection sites with close members of his administration. The extent to which Ms. Kim was involved in her father’s secretariat is difficult to assess, as her presence at events was rarely publicized during this era—though, as mentioned, it’s generally believed she has been an active member of the party since 2007. In this role, Ms. Kim is reported to have been photographed in 2010 at the 3rd WPK Conference, seated closely with Kim Ok—her father’s alleged mistress and possible fourth wife.

However, Ms. Kim first began to gain publicity in 2011, following the death of her father and his subsequent funeral broadcast. Throughout the proceedings, she could be seen leading various high-ranking officials in paying respects to her father. By 2013, Ms. Kim had been promoted to acting director of the National Defense Commission. During this time she also often accompanied her brother as his “tour manager,” and was even photographed attending and voting in the elections for the Supreme People’s Assembly in 2014.

In 2015, she surpassed long-standing official Kim Ki-nam as the first vice director of PAD, taking on a role that allowed her to influence propaganda and media throughout North Korea. In taking on this position, Ms. Kim became one of the youngest people to ever become vice director—her father was also promoted to the position when he turned 27. It is in this role that she is believed to have made the most impact, for Kim Jong-un’s cult of personality began to exhibit patterns that were meant to mimic the aura of his grandfather, Kim Il-sung. As PAD’s most powerful director, Ms. Kim is likely the figure behind the reversion to an public aesthetic more akin to Kim Il-sung than Kim Jong-il during the Jong-un era. Rather than take on the firm leadership role of his father, Kim Jong-un began to soften his image. This strategy differentiated Kim Jong-un from his father early on in his transition and holds nostalgic value for older North Koreans. As such, Ms. Kim will probably continue making suggestions that will strengthen KJU’s cult of personality.

However, Ms. Kim’s rise to power didn’t happen without incident. According to sources cited in Daily NK in Japan, in May of 2015 around a dozen of Kim Yo-jong’s classmates from Kim Il-sung University vanished simultaneously. It was later reported that they were exiled for revealing that they were her former classmates, though the source notes that it is unlikely that Ms. Kim knew of their impending exile and others still doubt that such a trivial statement could have caused their removal.

Though Ms. Kim previously has served as an alternate member of the Supreme People’s Assembly since 2017, she was officially elected into a position representing Killimgil through the 2019 North Korean Parliamentary election.

Role in Diplomacy:

Ms. Kim’s role as a member of the Kim family has allowed her to become an important figure in North Korean diplomacy. During the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, despite being outranked by numerous other officials in the delegation, she was perceived as the de facto leader and was even beckoned by Kim Yong-nam—the former President of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly of North Korea—to take the center seat in a meeting with South Korea’s unification minister. Ms. Kim was also the individual chosen to relay an invitation to Moon Jae-in for a meeting with Kim Jong-un in North Korea.

Succession Rumors:
According to a special report run by NHK in 2012, Kim Jong-il considered Ms. Kim as a potential successor to his position. This claim is corroborated by Konstantin Pulikovsky, a Russian official who accompanied Kim Jong-il during his 2001 trip to Moscow, during which he claims Jong-il told him “‘Of my children, Jong-un and Yo-jong have expressed an interest in politics and I am planning on educating and choosing one of them as my successor.’” Pulikovsky also notes that when asked about successors, Kim Jong-il referred to his sons as “idle blockheads” and praised the intelligence and political understanding of his daughters.

Moreover, Ms. Kim has a history of stepping up when Kim Jong-un has been unable to properly serve as a leader. During Kim Jong-un’s string of health problems in 2014, she was reported to have spent much time supporting him at his bedside along with his wife, Ri Sol-ju. Additionally, JoongAng Ilbo reported that officials in the intelligence community believed that Kim Yo-jong was being groomed as a successor in the case that Jong-un’s condition took a turn for the worse. In an interview for this report, Dr. Alexandre Mansourov, Adjunct Professor at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, noted that upon arriving in Singapore for the 2018 summit, Kim Jong-un and Kim Yo-jong were on different planes. Such an approach may indicate that should anything have happened to Kim Jong-un during his flight, there would be at least one more high-ranking Kim family member that could step up to the plate in the case of his untimely death.

However, it’s important to note that some experts believe Ms. Kim’s rise to power doesn’t necessarily amount to a place in the line of succession. They point to patterns between Ms. Kim and her aunt, Kim Kyong-hui, suggesting that while women can take an important role in running the country, the position of Supreme Leader may yet be out of reach.

Although succession rumors cannot be confirmed with any confidence, it is clear that Ms. Kim plays an important role within the political infrastructure of North Korea and holds a unique set of qualities that would make her a good candidate. However, the qualities that make her a good candidate for the line of succession are the very same ones that could put her in danger should a younger successor eventually take Kim Jong-Un’s place.

Conclusion:
Recently, Ms. Kim has ascended to a more important political role, issuing orders to all-female units in the Korean People’s Army (KPA) and recommendations to improve the military’s livestock industry. These actions likely indicate another rise in stature, making Ms. Kim an important political entity in her own right. Though there have been rumors of her dismissal from the politburo, even if such a dismissal were to occur, Ms. Kim’s ability to issue commands on her own indicate that she plays an increasingly powerful role in the DPRK’s leadership structure.

Ms. Kim serves as an important intermediary between the newer generation of appointees to the administration made by Kim Jong-un and the older members of her father’s administration. She is an experienced bureaucrat, having accumulated reach and power throughout different factions of the government. She was likely mentored by figures like Kim Ki-nam, Kim Kyong-hui—and by her half-sister Kim Sol-song—so she understands the internal workings of North Korea’s government.

Kim Yo-jong is surely a figure of prominence that must be watched in the years to come. She has demonstrated intelligence, an advanced understanding of how image-building works and the capacity to make important connections with leaders throughout the international community. Because of her ties to the old administration and the trust that Kim Jong-un confides in her, it should not serve as a surprise if she continues to rise to some of the highest ranks in the North Korean political sphere.

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