Seoul: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s younger sister has been reinstated to a key decision-making body, state media reported Sunday, marking her rise in the isolated nation.
Long one of her brother’s closest advisers, Kim Yo Jong was reappointed an alternate member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee in a reshuffle of top officials Saturday, according to the official Korean Central News Agency. The meeting to decide on the appointment was presided over by Kim Jong Un, it added.
Analysts say Kim Yo Jong is believed to have been removed from the position last year after the collapse of a second summit between her brother and US President Donald Trump in Hanoi.
“The restoration is part of Kim Yo Jong’s recent rise within the North’s hierarchy,” Ahn Chan-il, a North Korean defector and researcher in Seoul, told AFP.
Ri Son Gwon, who was named the North’s top diplomat in January, was also elected as an alternate member of the Political Bureau alongside Kim’s sister. (AFP)
