Pyongyang, the three women behind Kim Jong-un’s throne
Seoul (AsiaNews) - With the appointment of
his younger sister Kim Yeo-jong to leadership
of the Workers' Party, the
"circle" of the closest
advisers to the North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un is now dominated
by the women members of the family.
His wife Ri Sol-ju and older
half-sister Kim Sul-song have long been among
the most trusted people for the
Stalinist leader, who seems to have ended his series of purges against
officials of the time of his
father Kim Jong-il.
Kim Sul-song is
the oldest of the three. Despite
the secrecy that shrouds the life of each
member of the Kim family - in power in North Korea since 1953, the year of the end of the Korean War and the
division of the peninsula -
it is believed she was born in 1974.
She is the eldest daughter of the former
dictator Kim Jong-il
and his second wife, Kim Yong-suk.
According to data available, Sul-song studued Economic
Policy at Kim Il-sung University and,
since the late 1990's, has worked
in the Central Secretariat of the Party. During her father's reign she acted
as personal secretary in charge of security and the "dear leader's" daily agenda.
Today she holds the same position for
her brother.
She is also believed to be a " the hub"
for the flow of information to and from government
officials. Together with her husband Sin Pok-nam, a long time regime official, she played a central
role in the purge of her uncle
Jang Song-taek.
Ri Sol-ju,
born around 1989, is instead believed to be the protector
of Choe Ryong-hae: the former "number
two" of the regime had fallen
on hard times in recent months and
was replaced with Hwang Pyong-so, but
thanks to his wife, Kang Kyong-sil's
friendship with the
dictator's companion he is back at
the top.
Kim Yeo-jong,
finally, is Kim's younger sister.
Appointed a few days ago deputy director of the powerful Central Committee of the Workers' Party, she is the youngest
person in North Korea (27 years old) to achieve
such an important position. According to
some sources, her appointment blocks the road to the dictator's male siblings (three in
total, two twins, plus the exiled
Kim Jong-nam).
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