Kang Seung-woo is the Business Desk editor at The Korea Times. Prior to this position, he covered politics, national affairs, finance and sports.
Kim Yo-jong emerges as N. Korea's No. 2
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and his sister Kim Yo-jong / Korea Times file
By Kang Seung-woo
By Kang Seung-woo
Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, seems to have established herself as the de facto “No. 2” in the reclusive state as she receives treatment almost equal to that of her older brother.
In addition, she has officially become the leader's top person on inter-Korean affairs ― superior to the spokesman ― which helps her exert more influence in state affairs across the board.
The Rodong Sinmun, the mouthpiece of the North's ruling Workers' Party, reported Sunday, that students held a mass rally in Pyongyang the previous day and read a statement issued by the younger Kim rebuking South Korea's failure to stop anti-North Korea propaganda leaflet campaigns.
In the statement released Thursday, the North threatened to end a military agreement with South Korea made in 2018 unless Seoul prevents North Korean defectors and activists from flying leaflets into its country via balloons. In addition, the newspaper published contributions written by residents and senior party members in support of the statement.
Such a report is regarded as something unusual for the state-run media outlet, which generally only publishes the “Supreme Leader's” remarks and responses to them ― a sign that she has risen in power to be right behind her brother.
On Friday, when the United Front Department of the party's Central Committee issued another statement threatening to withdraw from the South-North liaison office at the shuttered Gaeseong Industrial Complex, it described the younger Kim as “looking after affairs with South Korea” ― the first official confirmation of her status by the North. She is officially the first vice department director of the Central Committee.
Three days after the threat, the South Korean unification ministry said Monday that the North did not answer a daily liaison office phone call from the South in the morning -- the first time since its opening in 2018 -- raising speculation that the regime may be acting true to its word. However, the South made a call in the afternoon, which was responded to by the North. The two Koreas make two phone calls daily, at 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. According to the unification ministry, the North did not explain why it did not answer the morning call.
In the wake of a series of fiery statements by the younger Kim denouncing the South Korean and U.S. governments since earlier this year, speculation is rampant that Kim Jong-un and Kim Yo-jong are playing “good cop, bad cop,” respectively.
In March, the younger Kim strongly denounced Cheong Wa Dae's expression of regret over the North's launching of missiles, but her brother sent a personal letter to President Moon Jae-in expressing concern over his health and wishing him luck in battling the COVID-19 outbreak.
“The North Korean leader handles relations with the South and the United States by sending well-wishes to his counterparts, while his sister is in charge of harsh rhetoric against them,” said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies.