The younger sister of the current North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, and the younger daughter of the late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, is Kim Yo-jong. She received her education first in Switzerland and then in North Korea. Early in her childhood, she shown leadership potential as well as a desire in a political career. She began participating in a minor role in the ruling Korean Workers’ Party perhaps as early as the age of twenty. At age 21, she started to take a more active role in ensuring that her favored brother, the youngest of her father’s three sons, succeeds him as her father, the Supreme Leader of North Korea, suffered from two strokes. Even after achieving her aim, she continued to labor quietly in several crucial positions while maintaining a very low profile, receiving no formal recognition until she was in her late 20s. She currently serves as the Director of the Department of Propaganda and Agitation and a substitute member of the Political Bureau of the Workers’ Party of Korea Central Committee.
Young Adulthood & Childhood
Kim Yo-jong was born in Pyongyang, North Korea, on September 26, 1987. From 1994 to 2011, her father, Kim Jong-il, presided over North Korea. He lavished her with love, addressing her as “Princess Yo Jong” and “Sweet, Sweet Yo Jong.”
Ko Yong-hui, her mother, was her father’s third wife. Known as “The Respected Mother who is the Most Faithful and Loyal “Subject” to the Dear Leader Comrade Supreme Commander,” “The Mother of Pyongyang,” and “The Mother of Great Songun Korea,” Ko Yong-hui is a former dancer who was born in Japan.
Kim Yo-jong, the youngest of her parents’ three children, was born in 1981. She has two older brothers, Kim Jong-Chul and Kim Jong-un (born in 1984). Kim Jong-un, who took over the position following the passing of his father in 2011, is one of them.
She has two further half-siblings. Her half-sister Kim Sul-song was born in 1974 as a result of her father’s liaison with Kim Young-sook, and her half-brother Kim Jong-Nam was born in 1971 as a result of her father’s relationship with Song Hye-remand.
To maybe shield them from the influence of their grandfather, Kim Il-sung, Kim Yo-jong, and her brothers were transferred to Switzerland for their education. They lived nearby in an apartment while attending Hessgut Schule, a state-run, German-speaking school in the Liebefeld neighborhood of Berne.
They all received pseudonyms, perhaps for security purposes. Pak Mi Hyang was the nickname given to Kim Yo-jong, Pak Chol to Kim Jong-il, and Pak Un to Kim Jong-il. It was revealed to their classmates that they were the offspring of an Asian ambassador stationed in Switzerland.
Kim Yo-school jong’s career is largely unknown, save for the fact that she demonstrated a love of dance during this time. Even the teachers were unaware of their true identities because they lived such routine life. They were merely astounded that the parents of the kids never paid them a visit.
Kim Yo-jong and Kim Jong-un have been close friends since the beginning. She, therefore, followed Kim Jong-un when he returned to North Korea in 2000 or 2001 after four years of education.
Unconfirmed accounts claim that she enrolled in the Kim Il-sung Military University, a postsecondary institution in Pyongyang, after returning to North Korea. She most likely pursued a computer science degree at Kim Il-sung University after that. She had then begun displaying an interest in politics.
Her interest in politics was warmly valued by her father, according to the North Korea Leadership Watch blog. He boldly revealed to several international interlocutors as early as 2002 that she was considering a future in the nation’s political system.
Kim Jong’s Career
Kim Yo-jong avoided the spotlight until 2010. She is thought to have begun acting in a supporting capacity for the governing Korean Workers’ Party as early as 2007, and after their father suffered two strokes in 2008, she is said to have become crucial to planning for Kim Jong-succession. un’s
She was initially captured on camera in September 2010 during the Third Conference of the Korean Workers’ Party. She was pictured standing next to Kim Ok, who may have been her father’s mistress and his secretary.
She was chosen to participate in this 2010 meeting as an “alternative member” of the Korean Workers’ Party’s Political Bureau of the Central Committee. She was one of the most significant women in the nation because the Political Bureau was the highest decision-making body.
She was a regular member of her father’s group by 2011. She was pictured grieving by her brother Kim Jong-side un’s as he led the central government leaders’ funeral procession in December 2011 when Kim Jong-il passed away. She was never identified or included on the funeral committee, though.
She started working for the National Defense Commission as Kim Jong-tour un’s manager in 2012. The role further boosted her status in the hierarchy because by that point Kim Jong-un had been appointed to the rank of Supreme Leader of North Korea.
Kim Yo-jong avoided the spotlight while obtaining a crucial position. She didn’t make an appearance in a news story until Korean Central Television showed her biking with her brother Kim Jon-un in November 2012. But her name was not mentioned.
She received her first official mention on March 9, 2014. She attended Kim Jong-un in the Supreme People’s Assembly election on that particular day, and in the news reports that day, she was identified as a “high official” of the WPK Central Committee.
When her brother fell unwell in September or October 2014 due to an “uncomfortable health condition,” she is said to have assumed state responsibilities for six weeks. She was already being prepared by Kim Jong-un at that point to succeed their aunt Kim Kyong-hui, who had a significant position in Jong-inner-un’s circle.
She made one more advancement on November 28, 2014, when she was named Vice-Director of the Worker’s Party of Korea’s Propaganda and Agitation Department. After that, on July 24, 2015, she took over as the department’s director, succeeding Kim Ki-Nam.
As the head of the propaganda and agitation division, she started portraying her brother as a kind-hearted leader and gradually developed a cult figure based on their paternal grandpa Kim Il-sung. She was also viewed as a tyrant because she punished officials even for small offenses.
Over time, she started to take complete control of the state apparatus while still remaining loyal to her brother. The U.S. Treasury Department placed her on a sanctions list in January 2017 for “serious human rights abuses” as well as for the censorship that covered up the regime’s “inhumane and oppressive behavior.”
Kim Yo-jong was appointed an alternate member of the Political Bureau of the Workers’ Party of Korea Central Committee, the highest decision-making body in the nation, on October 7, 2017. She was then assigned to this crucial bureau, making her the second woman to do so.
She created more history on February 9 when she went to Pyeongchang, South Korea, for the opening ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics. Since the 1950–1953 Korean War, which lasted in South Korea, no other member of the Kim dynasty has been there.
When she met Moon Jae-in, the president of South Korea, on February 10, 1918, she played a crucial diplomatic role by presenting a handwritten letter from Kim Jong-un and extending an invitation for him to visit North Korea. She traveled to South Korea on her brother’s behalf as a special envoy, it was later revealed.
Personal Legacy & Life
Choe Song, the second son of Choe Ryong-Hae, a significant member of the Workers’ Party of Korea’s Presidium and Secretariat, was married to Kim Yo-jong sometime in the early months of 2015. She has been spotted wearing a band on the finger that holds her wedding ring, though the rumor has never been formally confirmed.
She gave birth to a child in May 2015, however, the father is still unknown. While some claim that the child’s father is a fellow Kim Il-sung University student, others think that he is a WPK officer, and still others think that he is her bodyguard.
Estimated Net Worth
The supreme leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-un, has a $5 billion fortune. Despite the fact that Kim Jong-un is less well-known than other international leaders in politics, the media has paid a lot of attention to him.