How Sister Kim Jong Un Tries to Reconcile Pyongyang and Seoul | World Events – Estimates and Forecasts from Germany and Europe | DW

Since October 4, 2021, there is contact again between the DPRK and South Korea. For the first time in two months, officials from both countries spoke to each other on the phone – after Pyongyang suspended communications in August this year, causing concern around the world. “The government believes that with the restoration of communication channels between the South and the North, the foundation has been laid for the restoration of inter-Korean relations,” the AFP news agency quoted the statement of the Ministry of Unification of the Republic of Korea as saying. The DPRK state news agency calls the move an attempt to achieve “lasting peace” on the Korean Peninsula.

Who is behind the attempt at reconciliation

Apparently, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, Kim Yeo-jong, is behind the renewal of contacts with South Korea. However, its influence goes far beyond these limits: a year ago, the South Korean intelligence service called Kim Yeo Jong, who is supposedly 34 years old, “de facto number 2” in the country.

Kim Yeo-jung meets with South Korean President Moon (photo 2018)

In the official hierarchy, she now occupies one of the highest posts. The Supreme People’s Assembly elected her and 6 other functionaries to the State Affairs Commission. North Korea’s supreme governing body, the State Council, is headed by her brother Kim Jong-un. In the Workers’ Party of Korea, Kim Yeo-jong is the deputy head of the department at the Central Committee. The next step may be to raise her to a member of the Politburo.

Kim Yeo-jung’s career is the result of a close relationship of trust with his brother Kim Jong-un for many years. Between 1996 and 2000, the brother and sister studied together at a private school in Bern, Switzerland, and her grades are said to have been better than his. While there, they shared the news of the flight of their aunt and her family to the United States and of their mother’s breast cancer. After graduating from high school and returning to her homeland, Kim Yeo-jong worked as the personal secretary of her father, Kim Jong-il.

How Kim Jong Un’s sister ended up in politics

The then leader of North Korea, Kim Yeo-jong, was so impressed with her political talent that, according to the Korean publication Joong Ang Ilbo, he was ready to make her his successor if she were a man. After her father’s death at the end of 2011, she – again as a personal secretary – helped her brother to strengthen his power. And formally, her career began in the propaganda and agitation department of the Workers’ Party of Korea.

Sister Kim Jong Un In Kim Jong Un

The young leader of North Korea is also pleased with his sister. Instead, Kim Yeo-jung went to the opening ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang and to the funeral of the wife of the former South Korean president. At both summits with the participation of US President Trump, she was also with her brother, for which the South Korean press awarded her the title of “Messenger of Peace.” But after the failure of the Hanoi summit, relations between the DPRK and South Korea deteriorated again. In June 2020, in protest against Seoul’s support for UN sanctions against the DPRK, Pyongyang defiantly blew up an inter-Korean liaison office in Kaesong Technopark.

“Messenger of Peace” or “Princess with a Poisonous Tongue”

Against the backdrop of all this, Kim Yeo Jung’s image has changed significantly. From a “messenger of peace” she turned into a “princess with a poisonous tongue.” Kim Yeo-jung, for example, is threatening Seoul with force if the South Korean authorities do not take action against human rights defenders launching propaganda balloons towards North Korea. She urged the Biden administration to be careful if Americans want to sleep peacefully at night. And South Korean President Moon was harshly criticized for what he called the test launch of North Korean missiles “a provocation.”

Kim Yeo-jung with the President of South Korea at a concert in Seoul (2018 photo)

But a week ago, Kim Jong Un’s sister changed her rhetoric. North Korea could take part in a new inter-Korean summit, reopen an office in Kaesong and officially declare an end to the war on the Korean Peninsula if Seoul ends its “hostile policy,” she said. Prior to that, Kim Yeo-jong called the corresponding proposal of South Korean President Moon Jae-in, with which he spoke at the UN General Assembly, “a good and interesting idea.” All of this can be interpreted as a signal that the Kim regime wants to improve relations with South Korea while Moon is still president. But his tenure as president ends in May 2022. After that, a representative of the conservative opposition, critical of North Korea, may come to power.

In the coming months, Brother and Sister Kim intend, it seems, to divide up the areas of activity. Kim Jong-un, with further missile launches and tough rhetoric, will put pressure on the United States, seeking concessions on the sanctions, and Kim Yeo-jong, as the new “messenger of peace”, will offer a summit of the two Koreas in exchange for Seoul’s consent to weaken economic sanctions against the DPRK. Such a deal would be her first truly major political achievement.

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• 

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  Nuclear threat

  The international community has been trying for many years to freeze the DPRK’s nuclear program. The UN Security Council strongly condemned the hydrogen bomb test in January 2016 and soon imposed new restrictive measures against Pyongyang. In 2009, the DPRK withdrew from the six-party talks on its nuclear program, which were held with the participation of the United States, China, Russia, Japan and South Korea.

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  Demonstration of military power

  The DPRK authorities previously pursued a Songun policy – “Army first of all”, whose main priority for a long time was to strengthen the country’s defense capability. In recent years, in addition to building up military power, Pyongyang has been focusing on economic development. However, the level of militarization remains high: with a population of 25 million, the North Korean army has over a million soldiers.

• 

  North Korea contrasts

  The Kim dynasty

  For about 70 years the country has been ruled by the Kim family dynasty. “Great Leader”, the founder of the DPRK, Kim Il Sung, died in 1994 at the age of 82 and was posthumously declared the “eternal president” of North Korea. In 2012, in honor of the 100th anniversary of his birth, a grand military parade was held in Pyongyang.

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  North Korea contrasts

  Young leader Kim Jong-un.

  ..took over the leadership of the country after the death of his father Kim Jong Il in December 2011. At the moment, Kim Jong-un, who is just over 30 years old (the exact year of birth is unknown), is the world’s youngest acting head of state. The new leader of the DPRK exercises full control over the party and the army. In matters related to the nuclear program, he also has the final say.

• 

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  Creeping capitalism

  According to the Central Bank of South Korea, the DPRK’s economy is still extremely weak, but the country’s GDP is growing slowly. The official salary in the DPRK exceeds one dollar a month, however, according to experts, about half of the country’s GDP comes from the private sector. According to orientalist Andrey Lankov, illegal earnings make up 75% of family income. The photo shows foreign tourists at a pizzeria in Pyongyang.

• 

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  Hunger in the 1990s

  In the early 1990s, the country lost economic support from the USSR, which led to a sharp decline in industry. Ineffective government policies, as well as floods and droughts, have hit agriculture hard as well. A famine broke out in the DPRK, which claimed, according to various estimates, about half a million lives. By 2000, hunger was largely overcome, mainly through international assistance.

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  Quiet reforms in agriculture

  After coming to power, young leader Kim Jong-un began to take cautious steps towards economic reform. Since 2013, a couple of peasant families have the opportunity to register with an agricultural cooperative as a small production unit and keep 30 percent of the harvested crop. The innovation proved to be successful: 2013, 2014 and 2016 were marked by record harvests of rice.

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  Border with South Korea

  The border between South Korea and the DPRK at Panmunjom passes through three barracks that have not been used since 1953. Formally, both countries are still at war, since they have not signed a peace treaty. Following Pyongyang’s announcement of the successful testing of a hydrogen bomb in January 2016, Seoul resumed propaganda along the border with the DPRK, which is broadcast through powerful loudspeakers.

• 

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  Cooling relations with China

  For many years, China has been the largest economic partner and sponsor of the DPRK. Recently, however, relations between neighboring countries have noticeably deteriorated. The North Korean nuclear program, as well as Pyongyang’s reluctance to carry out market reforms on the Chinese model, are increasingly displeasing Beijing. The PRC strongly condemned the test of a hydrogen bomb in the DPRK in early January 2016.

  Author: Alexandra Yolkina

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