The sister of Kim Jong-un has been seen sitting yards from the dictator as he made a speech – weeks after promoting her to tighten his family’s grip on power.
Kim Yo-jong was given a place on an elevated platform just five seats away from the tyrant during a party conference watched by hundreds in the North Korean capital Pyongyang.
It is the latest sign of his younger sister’s rise in status in the regime. Only selected top officials are permitted to sit near the dictator at such events.
Kim Yo-jong (circled) the sister of Kim Jong-un (standing) has been seen sitting yards from the dictator as he made a speech – weeks after promoting her to tighten his family’s grip on power
Kim Yo-jong (circled) was among top officials invited to sit with Kim Jong-un as he delivered a speech at the opening of the 5th Conference of Cell Chairpersons of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) in Pyongyang
Kim Yo-jong (right) was given a place on an elevated platform just five seats away from the tyrant during a party conference watched by hundreds in the North Korean capital Pyongyang
In October Kim Jong Un oversaw a major shakeup of North Korea’s government as he promoted dozens of close aides to positions of power.
Among the new promotions was his 30-year-old sister, who was been elevated to a position within the powerful Central Committee.
The promotion marked a return to favour two years after she was fired as Kim’s propaganda chief due to a series of security blunders at rallies around the country.
On one occasion Kim was nearly hit in the face with a guitar by an over-enthusiastic musician as he toured a farm, while on a second occasion he was man-handled by fans at a concert.
In October Kim Jong Un (left) oversaw a major shakeup of North Korea’s government as he promoted dozens of close aides to positions of power. Among the new promotions was his 30-year-old sister (right), who was been elevated to a position within the powerful Central Committee
Kim Yo-Jong’s new job will be as an alternative member of the Central Committee – the chief decision-making body over which Kim presides. She is pictured (left) with the dictator (right) in 2014
Kim Yo-Jong’s new job will be as an alternative member of the Central Committee – the chief decision-making body over which Kim presides.
‘It shows that her portfolio and writ is far more substantive than previously believed and it is a further consolidation of the Kim family’s power,’ said Michael Madden, a North Korea expert at Johns Hopkins University’s 38 North website.
Kim made the announcement at the Korean Worker’s Party conference in Pyongyang, which took place ahead of the anniversary of the party’s founding.
Kim Yo Jong, 30, Kim Jong Un’s sister, has been promoted to the powerful Central Committee in a party shake-up
Yesterday, Kim Jong-un used another conference to take aim at his enemies and boast about his nuclear capabilities.
He said North Korea was now a ‘substantial nuclear threat to the US’ and warned that his rapidly developing nuclear force is ‘exerting big influence’ on the international community as he delivered a speech in Pyongyang.
Kim made the remarks a month after declaring his secretive state had completed its nuclear armament in the wake of a ballistic missile test.
It comes after his foreign ministry hit out at Trump’s ‘criminal’ new national security document calling it a ‘proclamation of aggression aimed at holding sway over the world’.
In the document, announced on Monday, Trump said Washington had to deal with the challenge posed by North Korea’s weapons programmes.
But in a statement released today, Pyongyang said: ‘This has fully revealed that ‘America first policy’ which the gang of Trump is crying out loudly about is nothing but the proclamation of aggression aimed at holding sway over the world according to its taste and at its own free will.’