Two major issues discussed by watchers of the Korean Peninsula are the health of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and the question of who will succeed him.
These issues have drawn attention since rumors about North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s health began circulating in 2020, with Kim’s powerful sister, Workers’ Party Central Committee Vice Department Director Kim Yo Jong, emerging in the process.
A recent discussion on North Korea’s leadership hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), an American think tank, also deemed Kim Yo Jong the most likely person to succeed her brother if he dies.
With attention focusing on Kim Yo Jong as a possible successor, a recently published book (first published in Japanese and translated into Korean by Han Ki-hong) is drawing interest as the first to really spotlight her.
The book, entitled “Kim Jong Un and Kim Yo Jong,” was written by Asahi Shimbun journalist Yoshihiro Makino.
The book looks at Kim Yo Jong’s entry into politics and why many North Korea watchers now consider her to be North Korea’s No. 2.
According to Makino, Kim Yo Jong first demonstrated interest in politics during the hectic power succession that followed her father Kim Jong Il’s stroke in August 2008.
Makino claims that Kim told her father that she wanted to jump into politics, but this was met with substantial criticism from the people around her.
Due to North Korea’s deeply feudal, patriarchal culture and Kim Jong Il’s own experience waging a fierce power struggle with his stepmother Kim Song Ae, the widow of North Korea’s founder Kim Il Sung, Kim Yo Jong’s father did not allow her to jump straight into politics, according to Makino.
He argues that this may have encouraged Kim Yo Jong to eschew public activity until Kim Jong Il died.
In fact, she made her full-scale political appearance and began taking the lead in domestic and international activity only after her father died and her brother assumed power.
A “VERY SPECIAL PERSON” TO KIM JONG UN
Since becoming a political actor, Kim Yo Jong has acted as a close advisor to her brother and taken part in major decisions establishing North Korea’s policy direction and planning. She has also exercised great influence on the so-called “red nobility,” North Korea’s core elite composed of the Third-floor Secretariat and Organization and Guidance Department.
Recently, she has also taken a leading role in foreign policy and international affairs involving South Korea, the US and other major countries.
She appears to be wielding great influence on domestic and international politics from her position of Workers’ Party Central Committee vice director, analogous to a vice minister in South Korea.
Even though Kim Yo Jong is a member of North Korea’s royal lineage, or “Mount Paektu bloodline,” her involvement in the totality of Workers’ Party affairs and foreign policy requires approval from North Korea’s supreme leader.
Makino said Kim receives approval from her brother because she’s special to him.
According to her, Kim Jong Un’s strong affection for his sister, partially due to the fact they were lonely siblings, and the fact that he has no subordinates he can really trust, makes Kim Yo Jong a really special person to him.
With no energy to watch the party, military and state due to a lack of aides he can trust, Kim Jong Un does appear to rely quite a bit on his sister.
In fact, in a report to the South Korean legislature’s intelligence committee in August of 2020, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service said Kim Jong Un rules through delegation, and Kim Yo Jong was the person he entrusted the most.
Past North Korean leaders had never permitted seconds-in-command.
This was presumably due to concerns that the very existence of a No. 2 could destabilize the regime through power leakages and disputes.
KIM JONG UN RELIES ON SISTER DUE TO HEALTH ISSUES
Nevertheless, Makino argues that Kim Jong Un relies on his sister and allows her to fully engage in politics because of issues with his health.
Kim Jong Un’s unstable health — one never knows when he might keel over — makes Kim Yo Jong even more important to him, the journalist says.
Makino even claims that Kim Yo Jong might be an “urgent replacement” on hand in case North Korea’s regime experiences instability.
Kim Jong Un’s older brother Kim Jong Chol, half-sister Kim Sol Song, uncle Kim Pyong Il and aunt Kim Kyong Hui also share the same bloodline as Kim Il Sung, but only Kim Jong Un and Kim Yo Jong are active Workers’ Party officials.
During North Korea’s military parade on Oct. 10, 2020, Kim Yo Jong did not stand next to her brother and take his bouquets, as she usually did, but took her place with the other party cadres.
Makino says that this was an attempt to cultivate Kim Yo Jong as a politician by entrusting the “secretary’s work” of handling Kim Jong Un’s bouquets or pens to another person, Hyon Song Wol.
The book also provides vivid descriptions of other major incidents in North Korea’s modern history.
These descriptions include details surrounding Kim Jong Nam’s assassination, the power struggle between Kim Jong Nam and Ko Yong Hui, the secret strife between Jang Song Taek and Ko Yong Hui, the connections between Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui and the Third-floor Secretariat, and details about why US-North Korean negotiations failed at the Hanoi summit in 2019.
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