Kim’s sister leads N. Korea’s pressure campaign – KIRO 7 News Seattle

SEOUL, South Korea – (AP) – As North Korea returns to its pattern of pressuring South Korea to get what it wants from the United States, leader Kim Jong Un’s powerful sister is to the face of its arms-mixing campaign become demonstrations and peace offers.

If protracted negotiations resume, US and South Korean officials will likely grapple with Kim Yo Jong, whose promotion to a key government post this week formalized her status as her brother’s chief foreign affairs officer.

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RISING STAR?

Amid a stalemate in nuclear diplomacy between Pyongyang and Washington, Kim Yo Jong shocked South Korea last June when she ordered the demolition of an empty South Korea-built liaison office in North Korea. Weeks later, she said North Korea would never ally itself with Washington again unless it takes “irreversible steps” to abandon its hostile policies – mainly with reference to economic sanctions against the joint North and US-South Korea military exercises.

The North has maintained its position so far, but has turned down the Biden government’s offer to resume talks without preconditions.

Recently, however, Kim was back in focus, making two separate statements offering conditional talks with South Korea. At the same time, the North conducted its first known missile tests in six months.

This week she was named a member of the State Affairs Commission, a high-level decision-making body led by her brother.

“Kim Yo Jong’s promotion likely reflects her brother’s assessment of her effective role as the regime’s international spokesperson,” said Leif-Eric Easley, professor at Ewha University in Seoul.

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NORTH KOREAS NO. 2?

Allegedly in her early 30s, she suffered brief setbacks in January when she lost her position as an alternate member of the ruling Labor Party’s powerful Politburo and was demoted from her previous title of “First” to “Deputy Department Head” of the party’s deputy department head. “Experts speculated that Kim Jong Un blamed her for political failure or worried about her advancement too quickly.

Kim Yo Jong’s entry into the commission, an executive office her brother established in 2016 after years of consolidating his power, could further cement her political standing, which South Korea’s intelligence agency has called “North Korea’s No. 2”.

“Her admission to the State Affairs Commission will give her testimony more official weight as she will now speak as the foreign affairs officer officially responsible for dealing with Washington and Seoul,” said Hong Min, an analyst at the Korea Institute in the Seoul National Association .

In a riot announced on Thursday, First Vice-Secretary of State Choe Sun Hui, a seasoned diplomat deeply involved in nuclear diplomacy with the United States, was expelled from the commission. This shows that Kim Yo Jong has her brother’s full support in taking on a more critical role in managing relations with Seoul and Washington, Hong said.

In her new job, Kim Yo Jong will likely lead future North Korean delegations in talks with Seoul or Washington, said Kim Yeol Soo, an expert at the Korea Institute for Military Affairs in South Korea.

She could also be a special envoy for Washington, playing a role similar to that of her brother’s top intelligence officer, who helped set up a summit with then-President Donald Trump in 2018, the analyst said.

In 2018, she traveled to South Korea as the first member of the Kim dynasty after the Korean War of 1950-53, attended the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics, and met with South Korean President Moon Jae-in about her brother’s wish for the two meet.

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OLD PLAYBOOK?

Analysts say North Korea is reviving its well-known game book of combining missile tests and peace offers to win external concessions from the Biden government, which has shown unwillingness to relax sanctions unless Pyongyang makes progress on denuclearization.

As of September 11, North Korea has been testing a new cruise missile that could potentially carry nuclear warheads, launched a ballistic missile from a train, and a hypersonic missile still under development. On Friday, the North said it had tested a new anti-aircraft missile that some experts say is in response to South Korea’s acquisition of advanced U.S. fighter jets.

While offering talks, including an inter-Korean summit and rebuilding the destroyed liaison office, Kim Yo Jong said South Korea must first give up “double standards” and “hostile policies”. Some observers say they want South Korea to get Washington to ease sanctions. She also wants South Korea to stop criticizing the North’s weapons development as part of its efforts to gain international recognition as a nuclear power.

North Korea has suspended nuclear bomb and long-range missile testing against the American homeland for more than three years, suggesting it wants to keep its diplomatic options with Washington alive.

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