Yojong has gained international visibility in recent years under Thai Linh/Pool via Portal March 1, 2019
In the almost always mysterious patriarchal North Korea, an enigmatic female figure has sparked curiosity among U.S. and U.S. intelligence agencies. South Korea in recent years: Kim Yojong, sister of dictator Kim Jongun.
Called “my sweet princess” by her father, former dictator Kim Jongil, says the book “The Sister: The Extraordinary Story of Kim Yojong, the Most Powerful Woman in North Korea” (in free translation). SungYoon Lee, Kim Yojong, now 36 years old, gained an important place in his brother’s government, unlike the old military men who had always surrounded the dynasty.
However, now there are rumors that the devoted sister may have fallen out of favor in the North Korean house of cards.
She is the youngest known daughter of Kim Jongil and his wife Ko Yonghui. She grew up like her two brothers and attended a boarding school in Bern, Switzerland, during elementary school.
She graduated from Kim Ilsung University with a degree in computer science in 2007, the same year she was appointed as a junior member of the Workers’ Party of Korea.
Little was known about her existence for many years the “Sweet Princess” was first seen publicly at her father’s funeral in 2011.
Kim Yojong gained global attention in 2018 when she became the first member of the dynasty to pay an official visit to South Korea during the PyeongChang Winter Olympics. She met with then South Korean President Moon Jaein and appeared in photos alongside former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
He later attended meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping and the then US President along with his brother. Donald Trump.
American and South Korean intelligence officers have great difficulty understanding Kim Yojong’s role and political significance in the North Korean government.
For example, it is known that she was removed from the Politburo the main decisionmaking body of the Workers’ Party of Korea in 2019 after negotiations with the Trump administration failed, indicating a loss of power internally.
It was finally reinstated the following month and in August 2020, the American press reported, citing South Korean intelligence officials, that the “Sweet Princess” had gained significant control over state politics.
That same year, American Time magazine published a report entitled “Money, Yachts and Brandy: Kim Yojong’s Ties to the Secret Office That Keeps North Korea’s Elites in Luxury.”
Kim Jongun’s sister would have control over Offices 38 and 39 of the Workers’ Party of Korea.
The first would be responsible for managing the Kim family’s personal finances, while the second was designated by the U.S. Treasury Department as a “secret branch of the government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.” [Coreia do Norte] which provides critical support to the North Korean leadership, including through engaging in illegal economic activities, managing classified funds, and generating revenue for the leadership.”
North Korea is known for providing the regime with money from cybercrime, for example.
However, the duties of the regime’s most important woman go beyond mere resource management. As head of the Workers’ Party’s propaganda and agitation department, she dealt directly with the government’s ideological messages in the media, arts and culture in general.
According to the US Treasury Department, this is “North Korea’s main agency responsible for, among other things, censorship of newspapers and radio broadcasts.”
The first public comment directly attributed to Yojong had a bellicose tone. In 2020, after the South condemned a livefire military exercise in Pyongyang, the Kim government released a statement calling its neighbor a “scared, barking dog.”
Many analysts interpreted the message as an attempt to demonstrate family stability and unity in his speech.
Daughter enters the line of succession
Kim Jongun’s sister named as possible successor Korea Summit Press Pool/Pool via Portal April 27, 2018
However, Kim Yojong’s starring role could be the rope that hangs her as she poses a threat to her brother’s power.
The British tabloid Express published a report in February this year saying that Yojong is allegedly being pushed out of the spotlight in favor of the younger generation, in this case the dictator’s daughter Kim Juae, her father’s possible successor .
“Given Kim Jongun’s record of eliminating his political rivals, experts have raised concerns about his sister’s safety, especially as she has fallen from grace,” the post said.
The increased protagonism of Kim Juae, the “most popular,” would be evidence that there is no longer room for the “sweet princess” in power, according to sources available to the newspaper.
The codirector of the International Institute of Korean Studies at the University of Central Lancashire in the United Kingdom, Sojin Lim, also recalled the murders of Kim Jongun’s close relatives in an article on the website The Conversation.
“This is a family in which many of the potential male contenders for power have been eliminated, including Kim Jongnam, Kim Jongun’s halfbrother murdered at Kuala Lumpur airport with the nerve agent VX, in Malaysia, in 2017; and his uncle, Jang Songthaek, who was said to be Executed by firing squad in 2013, after he was accused of being a counterrevolutionary. Therefore, the status of Kim Yojong’s relationship with her brother will be as closely scrutinized as Kim Jongun’s physical health when it comes to whether and when she might be able to challenge the supremacy in North Korea. “
Bags, art and even a “StarTAC” cell phone: isolated from the world, North Korea shows what it has to offer other than missiles
The most closed country in the worldThe North Korea discreetly demonstrated the potential of the national industry this week when it presented at a trade fair in Capital Pyongyangsome products in addition to the already common ballistic missiles that it produces “inhouse.”
A The dictatorship of Kim Jongun tried to show everything it produces to a Russian delegation visiting the country
Among the guests was Alexandr Kozlov, Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology. He was also appointed by Putin as chairman of the Committee on Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technological Cooperation between Russia and North Korea.
A highlight of the trade fair were the mobile phones, which are reminiscent of models from the 1990s in Brazil, foldable and only equipped with a number pad and screen. The most famous of these was StarTAC
Food produced in the country was also introduced to Russians
North Korea’s state news agency stressed that the Russians have realized that “light industry is making leaps every day under the leadership of the Workers’ Party of Korea, which sees improving the people’s living standards as its most important issue.”
Kim Jongun, North Korea’s dictator, did not accompany the Russians on their visit to the country’s industrial fair
The bags are also made on North Korean territory
The new shoe collection also attracts visitors’ attention
The treats caught the attention of Russians visiting North Korea
North Korea is proud of the works of art it creates in the country
There are paintings, sculptures, pots, among other things.
Paintings attract the attention of North Koreans