NORTH KOREA’S enemies have a busy August planned. First the leaders of America, Japan and South Korea will gather at Camp David in Maryland on August 18th to discuss, among other things, the North’s aggression. Days later the Americans and South Koreans will kick off military drills designed to show they are ready to counter it. Rarely willing to miss a chance to play up their indignation, North Korea will probably protest against both. The woman behind these condemnations will be Kim Yo Jong, who controls North Korea’s propaganda apparatus. Who is Ms Kim, and how has she gained such prominence in a regime where all power stems from its head, Kim Jong Un?
The answer may seem simple: she is the Supreme Leader’s younger sister. Their father, Kim Jong Il, was North Korea’s previous dictator; Ms Kim is therefore part of the “Paektu bloodline” that originated with Kim Il Sung, her grandfather and the founding father of North Korea. Yet blood alone cannot explain why Ms Kim is in a position to call a South Korean president an “impudent, flunky beggar” or compare America to a “scared barking dog”. Ms Kim has another elder brother, Kim Jong Chol. Reportedly deemed too soft for leadership by their father, his greatest achievement to date seems to be moderate competence on the guitar. A half-brother once thought to be in line to inherit the kingdom, Kim Jong Nam, was assassinated with VX, a nerve gas, in Kuala Lumpur airport in 2017.
Kim Yo Jong’s position at her brother’s side, figuratively and literally, is the result of a life preparing for such responsibilities. She is thought to have been born in 1987 and schooled, like her brothers, in Switzerland as a young child. She first appeared in state media in the background of a photo of her father in 2009; her name was first printed in 2014. Around that time she became deputy director of the Propaganda and Agitation Department, which is responsible not just for the blistering put-downs that North Korea directs at its enemies but also for the ideological purity of the country itself.
Lest the title of “deputy” director deceive, it should be said that Kims take orders from no one. Almost as soon as she joined the department, which her father once ran, reports emerged that Ms Kim was its de facto head. A stream of especially foul invective followed. State media called Michael Kirby, who had led the UN’s inquiry into North Korean human-rights violations, “a disgusting old lecher” (and much worse besides). Park Geun-hye, then president of South Korea, was dubbed “a capricious whore” who “earnestly begs a gangster to beat someone”. That gangster was, of course, America. Its president, Barack Obama, was subject to vile racist abuse.
In recent years Ms Kim has emerged from behind the scenes. A visit to the South in 2018 for the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang confirmed her status as a trusted emissary of the kingdom. When Kim Jong Un met both Moon Jae-in, then South Korea’s president, and Donald Trump, then America’s president, several times between 2018 and 2019, Ms Kim usually accompanied him. In 2020 she issued a statement in her own name for the first time.
What is next for Ms Kim remains unclear. Every rumour of Kim Jong Un’s poor health sparks rabid speculation that she will succeed him. But being the Supreme Leader’s sibling is tricky, especially since he has children to inherit the throne. Some siblings of North Korea’s leaders have had decorated careers. Others have fallen victim to purges. Despite her unique position, Ms Kim has one thing in common with all North Koreans: so long as Kim Jong Un lives, her life and fortunes are in his hands. ■
