This undated picture released from North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on October 2, 2020, shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and sister Kim Yo Jong visiting fields in Kimhwa County, Kangwon province; Photo: AFP
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s sister Kim Yo Jong made her first appearance in state media since July, an absence that speculated her power was “clipped” after she led a contentious pressure campaign against South Korea.
Kim Yo Jong joined her brother and a handful of top cadres on a tour to inspect reconstruction work to repair damage caused by massive flooding in recent weeks, the state’s Korean Central News Agency reported Friday.
The political analysts predicted that Kim Yo Jong is likely to be the successor to her brother Kim Jong Un during his prolonged absence in April raised questions about his health conditions.
She was last mentioned in state media when she joined her brother on an inspection tour of a chicken farm, which included a glimpse of her picking up a cigarette butt from her brother.
“The listing of the accompanying officials in today’s report indicates that she has not been demoted,” said Rachel Minyoung Lee, an independent political analyst who used to work for the US government in areas related to North Korea.
According to Bloomberg, Kim Yo Jong’s political status rose at the beginning of the year where she was a key player on policies toward the country’s two biggest adversaries, the US and South Korea.
A leading South Korean newspaper, the Chosun, reported in recent days that “she might even visit President Donald Trump before the presidential election in a show of support”.
Kim Yo Jong led a series of threats and provocations against South Korea that culminated with Pyongyang in June blowing up a joint liaison office north of the border built-in 2018 as a symbol of reconciliation between the two countries still “technically” at war.
Just as soon as it looked like more was on the way, her brother reversed course in late June and halted plans to step up provocations.
In July, she issued a message saying that North Korea had no intention of holding a meeting with Trump, calling on him to change his policy of applying sanctions against the state.
After that, she was seen absent from two key meetings in August of the ruling Workers’ Party which raised speculation that “she had fallen out of favor”. – Bloomberg. Source: https://www.daily-bangladesh.com
