Who Is Kim Yo-Jong? Kim Jong Un's Sister Hits Out At South Korean Govt

Kim Yo-Jong, a powerful North Korean diplomat and the sister of supreme leader Kim Jong-Un, slammed the recent South Korean military drills as 'suicidal hysteria' and a 'terrible disaster'. According to a statement in the Korean Central News Agency, she said it was "an undisguised war game (and) an inexcusable and explicit provocation that aggravates the situation." Kim Yo-Jong maintained that it was "clear to everyone... the riskiness of the above-said reckless live ammunition firing drills of the Republic Of Korea (South) army coming nearer to the border of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea."

This comes after North Korea recently sent barrages of balloons carrying allegedly parasite-infested trash across the border, following which Seoul suspended a tension-reducing military deal last month and resumed live-fire drills on border islands and by the demilitarised zone that divides the Korean Peninsula.

Who Is Kim Yo-jong?

Kim Yo-Jong is the Deputy Department Director of the Publicity and Information Department of the Workers' Party of Korea. In 2020, amid false rumours about supreme leader Kim Jong Un's death due to poor health, she emerged as the suitable candidate to replace him. Her family has been ruling North Korea for the last 70 years. Yo-Jong is not only the most popular figure in the country after Jong-un but is also known to be ambitious.

Yo-jong played a key role in the US-North Korea Summit. She is four years younger than her brother. It is said that she used to attend school with her brother in the late 1990s in Berne, Switzerland, closely guarded by North Korean guards. She has a degree in computer science degree from Kim Il-sung University in Pyongyang. It is she who is known to have arranged Jong-un's succession after their father suffered two strokes in 2008.

Kim Yo-Jong also paid an unprecedented visit to South Korea at the opening ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. She was the first member of the Kim dynasty to visit South Korea since the Korean War. According to Leonid Petrov, a senior lecturer at the International College of Management in Sydney, “She is not associated with his purges of military brinkmanship but knows all about them. She is a trusted political figure who helps Kim maintain a positive public image when he is dealing with foreigners or South Koreans.”