Why Kim Jong-un’s sister is putting the pressure on South Korea

Kim Yo-jong pressed Seoul to rein in defector activists sending leaflets across the border, demonstrating her increased influence within North Korean leadership

Her growing status has fuelled speculation she could succeed her brother, particularly after he was unsighted in state media for several weeks in April

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Kim Yo-jong, the younger sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, at the opening ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Photo: AP

Published: 11:30am, 14 Jun 2020Updated: 9:51pm, 14 Jun 2020

In totalitarian North Korea, there is no higher authority than supreme leader Kim Jong-un. But when Pyongyang last week cut all communication with South Korea during the latest escalation of tensions between the neighbours, state media reports made no reference by name to the 36-year-old leader. Instead, Kim Yo-jong, the dictator’s younger sister, took centre stage.

Determined to make the “betrayers and riff-raff” in the South pay for allowing North Korean defector activists to fly propaganda leaflets across the militarised border, the younger Kim and veteran hardliner Kim Yong-chol ordered the communications cease, the Korean Central News Agency reported on Tuesday. A few days before, she had issued a statement warning Seoul would be “forced to pay a dear price” if it continued to allow “evil conduct by rubbish-like mongrel dogs”.

On Thursday, South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s administration acceded to her demands, announcing it would crack down on the leaflet campaigns out of concern for their impact on “efforts to achieve peace and prosperity on the Korean peninsula”.

Moon, who held three summits with Kim Jong-un in 2018, has struggled to make progress on inter-Korean reconciliation, waylaid by the lack of concrete steps taken by Pyongyang toward denuclearisation and US pressure to maintain sanctions against the regime.

Despite the concession from Seoul, Kim ramped up tensions further on Saturday with the release of a statement in which she said the military had been instructed to “decisively carry out the next action”.

Although Kim did not elaborate, the statement hinted at the destruction of the Joint Liaison Office, the de facto embassy for managing inter-Korean relations located in the North Korean border city of Kaesong.

After years appearing silently at her brother’s side, Kim Yo-jong’s involvement in the recent course of inter-Korean relations demonstrates her growing influence within Pyongyang’s opaque leadership, analysts said.