Jong-un and Yo-jong are said to be close
SEOUL, Aug 21 (NNN-AGENCIES) — North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has delegated more responsibilities to his aides, including his sister Kim Yo-jong, South Korea’s spy agency claims.
Jong-un still maintains “absolute authority”, but handed various policy areas to others to reduce his stress levels, the spy agency reportedly said.
Yo-jong is now “steering overall state affairs”, the National Intelligence Service added.
However, Seoul’s spy agency has been wrong about North Korea in the past.
The claims were reportedly made during a closed-door briefing on Thursday to South Korea’s National Assembly.
Lawmakers then discussed the assessment with journalists.
“Kim Jong-un is still maintaining his absolute authority, but some of it has been handed over little by little,” the agency was quoted as saying.
Yo-jong now has responsibility for Pyongyang’s policy towards the US and South Korea, among other policy issues, and is “the de-facto number two leader,” it added, although it stressed that Jong-un had “not selected a successor.”
Jong-un’s decision to delegate was in part to “relieve stress from his reign and avert culpability in the event of policy failure,” it said.
Yo-jong is the younger sister of Jong-un and the only one of his siblings considered a close and powerful ally.
Born in 1987, she is four years younger than Kim. The two of them lived and studied in Bern, Switzerland, at the same time.
Yo-jong first gained international attention in 2018, when she was the first member of the Kim dynasty to visit South Korea. She was part of the delegation to the Winter Olympics, where North and South competed as a joint team.
She also worked alongside her brother at international summits, including his meetings with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, China’s Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump. — NNN-AGENCIES
