Subscribe
E-Paper
 |
| Kim Jong-un's sister Kim Yo-jong |
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's younger sister Kim Yo-jong commanded her first instruction to military units as the country's vice director of the Propaganda and Agitation Department of the Workers' Party of Korea, sources said.
According to the sources, Kim Yo-jong, on Dec. 17, delivered her message to each military unit that they should take extra care of female soldiers' health conditions.
"Rechargeable batteries can be hazardous to health because of their chemical contents so they should be placed in designated areas," she said in the message.
"Each base should also take special care of female soldiers' working and health condition."
Kim Kyong-hui and Ko Yong-hui had taken the role to improve female soldiers' working conditions before Yo-jong. Kim Kyong-hui is the aunt of Kim Jong-un and Yo-jong. Ko is Kim Jong-un and Yo-jong's mother.
North Korean experts said Kim Yo-jong has taken the center stage of North Korea's power elite at a younger age than the previous generation did.
Kim Yo-jong came to the post in November 2014, and then replaced Kim Ki-nam as the de facto leader of the department in July 2015. Kim Kyong-hui stepped into the role in 1995 when she was 51.
Born in 1988, Kim Yo-jong is only 31.
North Korean defector and former diplomat Thae Yong-ho said in 2017 that Kim Yo-jong has been the driving force behind the development of her brother's cult of personality, modeled after that of their grandfather, Kim Il-sung. She organized all major public events in North Korea, encouraging her brother to present an image of a "man of the people."
South Korea's National Intelligence Service reported to the National Assembly's Intelligence Committee in June that Kim Yo-jong has been "elevated to the level of a national leader," an upgrade from her previous role as a protocol assistant to the leader.
