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South Korean Unification Minister Lee In-young advised a committee of South Korean lawmakers Tuesday that he believed there was not sufficient proof to attract such conclusions about Kim Yo Jong’s exact role in North Korea’s opaque political system.
Kim has for years been a trusted aide and confidante to her brother. She beforehand served as one in all North Korea’s prime propagandists and is now an alternate member to the Politburo — the senior physique of North Korea’s ruling occasion.
Talk of Kim Yo Jong’s rising role in North Korean politics has beforehand fueled hypothesis about her brother’s well being. Kim Jong Un traditionally has saved a grueling schedule full of public appearances, however he disappeared a handful of instances from the general public eye earlier this yr, generally for weeks on finish. He additionally reportedly has a really unhealthy way of life.
An unsurprising split
While it is uncommon for diverging intelligence opinions from lively authorities officials like Jeong and Lee to turn into public, the split itself is not stunning. Government officials in South Korea and the United States are sometimes pressured to attract conclusions about North Korea primarily based on little or no data, given Pyongyang’s infamous secrecy.
North Korea doesn’t make details about its authorities and management construction available to the surface world, nor does it preserve its residents commonly knowledgeable of key personnel selections. There is no free press inside North Korea to independently monitor and report on management adjustments in both the federal government or the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea. The nation’s propaganda machine strictly controls what data is printed inside North Korea whereas censoring most content material from the surface world.
Jeong and Lee work in totally different areas of North Korea coverage. Jeong is charged with defending South Korea from the North, whereas Lee is liable for negotiating with Pyongyang and the doable reunification of the 2 Koreas.
Though Jeong and Lee appear to disagree on Kim Yo Jong’s exact role, the 2 ministers — and the NIS — agree that Kim Jong Un stays North Korea’s final authority and retains a agency grip on energy.
Rumblings about Kim Yo Jong’s place in North Korea come because the nation is dealing with a number of urgent challenges which have critically impacted the Kim Jong Un regime’s promise to enhance the economic system and dwelling requirements for common North Koreans.
Kim Jong Un chaired an emergency assembly Tuesday to debate the pandemic and efforts to organize for Typhoon Bavi, which is forecast to make landfall Wednesday or Thursday because the equal of a Category 1 hurricane both on the west coast of the Korean Peninsula or in China. North Korea’s derelict infrastructure and poor highway community make the nation extraordinarily susceptible to inclement climate.
Kim Yo Jong didn’t appear in any of the pictures of Tuesday’s assembly launched by North Korean state media. While that does not essentially imply she was not current on the assembly — she might have been off-camera — Kim has not been reported current at a number of necessary occasion conferences this summer season. Experts say her absence is uncommon, however could possibly be defined by mundane causes like sickness or having different enterprise to take care of.
Neither the North Korean authorities nor the nation’s state media has defined her absences.
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