According to South Korean intelligence, Kim Jong Un has reportedly given his niece, Kim Yo Jong, a partial authority to supervise “general state affairs” to relieve the workload of the North Korean leader.
The South Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS) told lawmakers that the decision by Kim Jong Un to pass more power to his younger sister further strengthened the claim that she is now the “de-facto second in command” of the country, Yet, according to the office of Representative Kim Byung-kee, who attended the NIS briefing, Kim Jong Un remains the supreme authority and exercises “total control.”
Not only Kim Yo Jong was granted an expanded portfolio, but the NIS also said. Many senior officials in North Korea’s government and ruling Workers’ Party have assumed greater responsibilities as part of this supposed new drive to relieve the pressures on Kim Jong Un, who has been in power for almost nine years but also to possibly protect him from guilty misconduct or incompetence by the government.
Kim’s government has some difficult problems to deal with this summer. Following deadly floods, it is seeking to clean up areas of the world while still keeping the coronavirus pandemic at bay. It is also suspected that North Korea’s economy is in bad shape, partially due to the continuing virus crisis — North Korea was one of the first countries to close its borders — And since negotiations with the United States on trade sanctions relief has failed to yield any concrete results for parts of Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons programme.
Likewise, North Korean state-run news agency KCNA acknowledged Thursday when it announced that Kim would convene a senior meeting with the top leaders of the country. The piece blamed “serious internal and external circumstances and unforeseen multitude of threats” for the sluggish economic condition.
The South Korean NIS stressed that Kim’s decision to delegate some responsibilities is not tied to any information regarding Kim’s health, succession plans, or his grip on power.
Speculation about Kim’s health was rampant earlier this year after the North Korean leader, who historically has kept a grueling schedule filled with public appearances, disappeared a handful of times from the public eye, sometimes for weeks on end without an official explanation. Kim also reportedly keeps a very unhealthy lifestyle — he is overweight, supposedly both a heavy smoker and drinker and is often under stress.
Kim Yo Jong for years has been one of her brother’s most important aides and confidants, so questions about Kim Jong Un’s health naturally led experts to focus on her.
Several experts believe Kim Yo Jong’s rising profile has been part of a carefully choreographed publicity campaign by North Korean state media to signal that she’s being groomed for something.
Though she has been absent from state media in recent weeks, Kim’s star has steadily risen this year. North Korean state media framed her as the architect of Pyongyang’s decision to blow up an office used for dialogue between the two Koreas — a bombastic statement of North Korea’s displeasure with South Korea.
