Tag: Kim Yo-jong

What I find most interesting about this, is how much more Kim Jong-un’s sister is taking on a leadership role within the regime to include responding to a letter from the U.S. President:

Donald Trump has sent a letter to Kim Jong Un detailing a plan to develop ties, state media reported citing the North Korean leader’s powerful sister, but she warned their good personal relationship is not enough, as a hiatus in disarmament talks drags on.

The statement by Kim Yo Jong came a day after the nuclear-armed North fired what appeared to be two short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast on Saturday, the latest such action it has taken this year.

“In the letter, he (Trump)… explained his plan to propel the relations between the two countries of the DPRK and the US and expressed his intent to render cooperation in the anti-epidemic work,” an apparent reference to the coronavirus pandemic, Kim Yo Jong said in the statement carried by the North’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Sunday.

A senior administration official confirmed Trump sent a letter to Kim Jong Un, “consistent with his efforts to engage global leaders during the ongoing pandemic”.

“The President looks forward to continued communications with Chairman Kim”, the official said.

While the letter reflects “excellent” ties between the two leaders, Kim Yo Jong warned that broader relations between their two nations are different.

“We try to hope for the day when the relations between the two countries would be as good as the ones between the two top leaders, but it has to be left to time and be watched whether it can actually happen,” the sister said.

AFP

You can read more at the link.

Here is something interesting, it appears that Kim Jong-un is now allowing his sister to take shots at South Korea:

On Tuesday night, Kim issued her first official statement, strongly slamming South Korea’s presidential office for complaining about the North’s recent short-range projectile launches, claiming that they were just an act of self-defense.

She stopped short of directly criticizing President Moon Jae-in but heaped vitriolic criticism and scorn over Cheong Wa Dae’s “senseless” and “foolish” act, saying that the South is demanding a stop to the North’s customary training while pushing for its own military drills with the United States. 

North Korea fired what appeared to be two short-range ballistic missiles on Monday, the first such launch in about three months. North Korean media later said it was a long-range artillery firing drill overseen by leader Kim.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

If Kim Jong-un’s sister, Kim Yo-jong was supposedly disciplined, it sure didn’t last very long because she is back in the spotlight:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s powerful younger sister has appeared in public for the first time in 53 days, contradicting rumors that she was disciplined in the wake of the leader’s embarrassing no-deal summit with U.S. President Donald Trump.

Kim Yo-jong attended North Korea’s propaganda group gymnastics and artist performance called “The Land of the People” held in Pyongyang’s May Day Stadium on Monday, along with leader Kim, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

It marked the first time that Kim Yo-jong has appeared in public since she was last seen in North Korean media during the Supreme People’s Assembly in April. Until then, she played the role of a personal secretary for the leader, and was seen holding an ashtray when he was having a cigarette break at a Chinese train station on his way to Vietnam for the summit with Trump.

The report came after rumors of a purge spiked following a news report that leader Kim had carried out a massive punishment of officials responsible for the breakdown of the Trump summit and that Kim Yo-jong was disciplined.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Kim Yo-jong sure did a good job not showing she was eight months pregnant during her visit to South Korea:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s younger sister gave birth to a baby not long after she visited South Korea in February to attend the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.

Kim Yo-jong was already about eight months pregnant when she came to Seoul on Feb. 9. She is believed to have given birth before the inter-Korean summit on April 27, intelligence authorities here said.

During the summit the signs of her pregnancy were already gone and she wore tight-fitting clothes.

She also accompanied her brother to a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Dalian on May 8-9.

Intelligence authorities believe she had her first child in 2015. Her husband is thought to be the son of a low-ranking Workers Party official and a classmate of hers at Kim Il-sung University.

The North Korea Strategic Information Service Center, a defector group, has identified him as U In-hak.

Kim Yo-jong is increasingly playing the role of her brother’s chief secretary, but it remains to be seen whether she will be by his side at the North Korea-U.S. summit in Singapore next month.  [Chosun Ilbo]

Usually overseas outlets don't really scoop SK sources regarding domestic or NK news. But HK's South China Morning Post is claiming NK may send Kim Yo-jong to Washington: "Right now, she is NK's most powerful weapon." https://t.co/NBtxd1W1Po

— Noon in Korea (@NoonInKorea) March 8, 2018

Here is a really good take down of the media’s love affair with Kim Yo-jong at this year’s Winter Olympics:

After a slow start, the media has its designated bad guy at the Winter Olympics. No sooner had Shaun White won the half-pipe than he became the snowboarding version of Harvey Weinstein.

Stories surfaced of sexual harassment allegations made against White in 2016. Reporters went into full #MeToo mode, repeating salacious details from a lawsuit filed by Lena Zawaideh, the former drummer in White’s rock band.

White’s dark background suddenly became the Big Story. I’m not here to defend White. If he did what was alleged, it is indefensible.

I’m just wondering why the selective outrage?

When it comes to dark backgrounds, the gold, silver and bronze medals at Pyeongchang all go to Kim Yo Jong. She is the sister of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, though from media reports you might only know her as “The Ivanka Trump of North Korea.”

Yeah, she’s just like the president’s daughter except for the death camps, the mass enslavement, the public executions, the starvation of her people, the torture and murder of a U.S. student Otto Warmbier and the threats to turn California into a nuclear wasteland.  [Orlando Sentinel]

You can read more at the link, but not only shouldn’t Kim Yo-jong be celebrated, but she and the rest of the North Koreans should not have been even allowed to even attend the Olympics.  Apartheid South Africa  was not allowed to attend the Olympics and they did not have no where near the same level of human rights violations as the Kim regime.  Additionally Apartheid South Africa was not a threat to world peace like the Kim regime.  Yet during the years of Apartheid did anyone see political and media figures championing that regime like we saw during the Winter Olympics with Kim Yo-jong?

Kim Yong-nam (far L), president of North Korea’s Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly, wipes away tears as he attends a concert, staged by the North’s Samjiyon Orchestra, at the National Theater of Korea in Seoul on Feb. 11, 2018. Also attending the concert are North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s sister and special envoy, Kim Yo-jong (2nd from R), South Korean President Moon Jae-in (3rd from L), Moon’s wife Kim Jung-sook (far R). (Yonhap)

Kim Yo-jong was school in Switzerland so she does know what a free city looks and feels like:

Kim Yo-jong, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s sister, said Seoul felt familiar even though it was her first-ever visit to the South, at an official dinner Saturday, according to a pool report.

“It doesn’t feel unfamiliar,” she replied when Choi Moon-soon, governor of Gangwon Province, asked her how she felt about Seoul.

Wearing a wine-colored jacket and black pants, Kim attended the dinner held at a hotel in Gangneung, the sub-host city of the Olympics. It was hosted by Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon for North Korea’s high-level delegation.

North Korea’s ceremonial head of state Kim Yong-nam, Choe Hwi, the chairman of the National Sports Guidance Committee, and Ri Son-gwon, the head of the North’s state agency in charge of inter-Korean affairs, were also in attendance.

Kim Yong-nam celebrated the South’s hosting of the Winter Games.

“As the Olympics were opened successfully with applause from North and South Korea, we believe that the games will pave the way for the two sides’ reconciliation, and stronger inter-Korean ties, and furthermore for Koreans’ unity and unification,” Kim said.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but someone should have asked her if the city would have felt more like home if there were forced labor camps and executions?

Is it just me or Kim Yo-jong has a smug face at just about every event she has attended?:

President Moon Jae-in attended a North Korean art troupe’s concert in Seoul on Sunday, expressing hopes that the reconciliatory mood for inter-Korean dialogue would be maintained going forward.

President Moon and the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un both attended the performance in the evening, marking the fourth time Moon and Kim Yo-jong have met since they greeted each other during the opening ceremony of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics on Friday.

Other members of the North’s high-level delegation were present for the concert, including the North’s ceremonial head of state, Kim Yong-nam.

During talks made just before the performance began, President Moon said the meeting with Yo-jong and the North’s delegation was very important, saying, “the two Koreas should cooperate to make this reconciliatory meeting’s charcoal become a torch.”

The North’s ceremonial head of state, Kim, said in response, “It is very happy and impressive to share such precious times. I would go back with a new note of hope of getting together again, because we created an opportunity to meet frequently.”  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but as far as the performance goes it was choreographed to push the narrative of unification:

The grand finale of the concert was North Korean song, “Let’s Meet Again,” and a common Korean song titled, “Our Wish Is Unification,” both sung together by Seohyun, a member of South Korean pop group Girls’ Generation, and a North Korean female octet.

Seohyun, wearing a short, white minidress and high-heeled shoes, and the North’s octet ended the concert, performing in perfect harmony the song with a theme reflecting the two Koreas’ desire for reunification.

The performers hugged as the audience gave them a standing ovation.

Another highlight of the concert was the surprise appearance of Hyon Song-wol, head of the Samjiyon Orchestra, on the stage.

“I came here to the South by crossing the border twice. In the process I felt saddened by the reality that Pyongyang and Seoul are located so close but feel so far away from each other,” she said. “I’m in a bad condition because I have a sore throat from Gangneung, but please applaud me a little bit more loudly than other singers so I can save face as the director,” Hyon said, resulting in thunderous applause.

She then sang a North Korean song titled “Paektu and Halla Are My Fatherland.” Her solo performance was later joined by the North’s orchestra and female singers.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but the narrative of unification is likely being used to justify holding a near term Inter-Korean Summit, make agreements to reopen Kaesong and the Kumgang Resort Tours, which will ultimately make ineffective the sanctions on North Korea.