[INTERVIEW] 'North Korean leader's younger sister is ambitious, bossy'
Kim Yo-Jong, the younger sister of North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un, attends a wreath-laying ceremony at Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum in Hanoi, Vietnam, in this March 2019 file photo. Reuters-Yonhap |
Author of 'The Sister' says Kim Yo-jong will succeed Kim Jong-un to become the supreme leader of North Korea, in case her brother is incapacitated
By Kang Hyun-kyung
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's younger sister, Kim Yo-jong, is back in the media spotlight following her explosively critical speech rejecting President Yoon Suk-yeol's new initiative ― largely referred to as his "audacious initiative" ― a proposal calling for the denuclearization of North Korea in exchange for large-scale food, energy, infrastructural, technological and financial assistance.
Calling it "the height of stupidity," Kim said in a statement released on Aug. 19 that Yoon's offer delivered in his Aug. 15 Liberation Day speech is as absurd as "trying to dry the dark blue ocean and turn it into a mulberry field." She then revealed her visceral dislike of South Korea's Yoon "as a human being," rebuking South Koreans for having elected him recently as their president.
Sung-Yoon Lee's book, titled, "The Sister," will be published by Pan Macmillan on June 15, 2023. |
"She is Kim Jong-un's most trusted aide, adviser, deputy, spokesperson, attack dog and confidante," he said in a recent email interview with The Korea Times. "In their body language when they are in close proximity, I see genuine mutual trust and affection. She is not a mere 'secretary.'"
He said now is the time for the world to pay greater attention to the ambitious younger Kim because of her growing influence in her country.
Her multiple crucial roles in the North ― as the deputy director of the Workers' Party's Publicity and Information Department, alternate member of the Politburo and member of the State Affairs Commission, among others ― have convinced Lee to believe that Kim Yo-jong could lead the country in case her brother is incapacitated for any reason.
If this happens, he said, Kim Yo-jong will succeed her brother to become the supreme leader of the impoverished state because she is the only adult who is part of the Mount Paektu bloodline, which refers to the three-generation lineage of North Korea's leadership, descending from founder Kim Il-sung. "There is no doubt that Yo-jong is leadership material," said Lee.
Kim Jong-un is believed to have children, although no further details about them are known, but they are too young to become leaders, said Lee.
He ruled out Kim Jong-un's brother Jong-chol from the possible successor list.
"Kim Jong-chol has stayed out of public view since Jong-un ascended to the throne in the wake of their father's death in December 2011. Jong-chol has long been known to harbor no interest in politics, whereas Yo-jong has been known since her childhood to be ambitious and bossy," he said. "More importantly, Yo-jong has participated very visibly in policymaking at least since February 2018 when she visited South Korea as her brother's special envoy."
Lee, an expert on North Korea's leadership, is the author of the new book, "The Sister," which unravels the rise of Kim Yo-jong. The book will be published on June 15 next year.
"I do reveal a few facts of policy relevance in my book," he said.
Lee declined to share any future details of his incoming book, saying he is contractually bound not to reveal them until two or three weeks before the publication date.
He said that Kim Yo-jong's "worse cop" role helps her brother, Kim Jong-un, be viewed as a more restrained and reasonable person.
"In the pandemic era, she has been a 'co-crime boss' with her brother, often playing, ironically the role of the 'worse cop' to her brother's 'bad cop,' rendering her murderous brother as the more restrained and reasonable person," he said. "It's quite clever, for when she reverts to the kind of charm offensive the world saw during their visit to South Korea, and in her meetings with then South Korean leader Moon Jae-in thereafter, much of the world will wish to see in her glimmers of hope, peace and reconciliation. By virtue of her gender and youth, she casts a softer, feminine glow on the cold, brutish facade that is her nation, the DPRK. Or that's how her interlocutors will see her. The latent sexism in her adversaries works to her regime's advantage."
North Korea is well-known for its fiery, erratic and offensive statements, in which they have ridiculed several world leaders with undiplomatic characterizations. It called former President Park Geun-hye a "dirty old prostitute," former U.S. President Barack Obama a "wicked black monkey" and Australian judge Michael Kirby, the chairman of the U.N. Commission of Inquiry report on human rights in North Korea who is openly gay, a "lecherous homosexual."
South Korea's former President Moon Jae-in, who had tried to dialogue with the North all throughout his five-year tenure in the presidency and had been criticized by conservative South Korean politicians for his "excessive" concessions he made to the North, was not an exception. In March 2020, the North likened Moon to a "frightened dog barking" after South Korea described the North's live-fire military exercise as a provocation.
Lee said that Kim Yo-jong signed off on all these invectives against the leaders. "All these nasty attacks bear the same mean streak and sardonic wit of Kim Yo-jong's recent statements under her own name," he said.
Sung-Yoon Lee, the Kim Koo-Korea Foundation professor in Korean Studies and assistant professor at Tufts University's Fletcher School / Courtesy of Sung-Yoon Lee |
(责任编辑:关于我们)
相关内容
- What to expect from Apple's September event: iPhone 16, Apple Watch 10, and more
- 寻一段“青岛往事” 中国电影院焕新亮相
- 五届市委第五轮巡察完成首批进驻
- 踏过三月早天里的云烟,来“逛春天”吧!
- Bernie Sanders’ DNC speech sounded like everyone else’s. That’s astonishing.
- Korea's economy to stop growing without drastic labor change: FKI
- 寻一段“青岛往事” 中国电影院焕新亮相
- 交警茶园话安全 全力护航采茶季
- 中国平安发布“新保险合同准则专项说明”及2022年业绩回溯
- Students get free entry at second Rawalpindi Test but what’s the catch?
- 棣栧睍锛佸浗瀹惰壓鏈熀閲戔€滃ぇ娌虫粩婊旓細榛勬渤鏂囧寲缇庢湳浣滃搧灞曗€濆紑骞昣涓浗灞变笢缃慱闈掑矝
- 閮嚡鏁忔墽瀵笺€婃堡鏄剧涓庣墶涓逛涵銆嬪紑鎷嶅湪鍗砡涓浗灞变笢缃慱闈掑矝
- 第33届青岛国际啤酒节官方小程序上线支付宝!9款定制皮肤限量抢
推荐文章
-
Who is the Dark Wizard in 'The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power' Season 2?
Just when The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Powerreveals the identity of one mysterious wizard, it ...[详细] -
2023齐鲁书香节暨青岛西海岸新区“书香青岛 阅读有我”全民阅读系列活动启动
中国山东网-感知山东4月24日讯通讯员 王培珂)4月23日是第28个“世界读书日”,人们共享开卷之美、阅读之乐,中华大地充盈书香,全民阅读蔚然成风。当天上午,2023齐鲁书香节 ...[详细] -
中国山东网-感知山东8月18日讯 如果说中山路是上世纪青岛最繁华的商业中心,那么坐落在城市边缘的西镇团岛,则代表了普通居民最真切、最平淡又不失精彩的市井生活。挪庄大院是西镇文化的代表。“挪 ...[详细]
-
春光明媚,茶园吐绿。3月11日,天朗气清,在名山区万古镇红草村的茶园里,放眼望去都是一排排整齐冒着嫩芽的茶树。戴着遮阳帽,背着茶兜子的茶农在茶园里尤为显眼,他们左右开弓,手指翻飞,采摘新长的嫩芽。“你 ...[详细]
-
21 Unexpected Wonders in Colorado’s Vibrant Cities and Small Towns
Between Colorado’s storied ranges, folded into its valleys and sprinkled across its plains, you’ll f ...[详细] -
中国山东网—感知山东8月6日讯为让广大群众共享文化发展成果,切实增强人民群众的获得感和幸福感,市北区开展“新时代文明实践”多元文化惠民实践活动。伴随着夏夜晚风,8月 ...[详细]
-
2023闈掑矝鍑ゅ嚢闊充箰鑺傛敾鐣ユ潵鍟︼紒鎮ㄦ兂鐭ラ亾鐨勯兘鍦ㄨ繖
銆€銆€6鏈?2鑷?3鏃ワ紝2023闈掑矝鍑ゅ嚢闊充箰鑺傚皢鍦ㄩ潚宀涜タ娴峰哺鏂板尯閲戞矙婊╁暏閰掑煄涓惧姙锛屼负骞垮ぇ涔愯糠濂変笂涓€鍦鸿豹鍗庤鍚洓瀹淬€?鏈?9鏃ワ紝2023闈掑矝鍑ゅ嚢闊充箰 ...[详细] -
交通银行青岛分行全面启动 “金融消费者权益保护集中教育宣传月”活动
为提升消费者金融素养,增强金融安全意识,营造安全稳定的金融环境,根据国家金融监督管理总局青岛监管局关于银行业金融消费者权益保护集中教育宣传相关要求,9月15日,交通银行青岛分行全面启动“金 ...[详细] -
Ford can make your Mustang Mach
One of the first big tricks Tesla pulled from its sleeve was when it started offering over-the-air u ...[详细] -
2014年,刘开举右一)家庭被评为四川省最美家庭三十年前,妻子王金莲患肺部疾病住院。原本以为只是一次平常的治疗,没想到全家却收到这样的诊断书:王金莲因肺部疾病并发症导致脑缺氧,造成全身瘫痪,失去意识。 ...[详细]
热点阅读
随机内容