hankyoreh

Mar. 23. On the far right is Kim’s younger sister Yo-jong. (KCNA/Yonhap News)

By Ha Eo-young, staff reporter

When North Korean leader Kim Jong-un attended a concert by the Moranbong Band at the April 25 House of Culture in Pyongyang on Mar. 22, he was accompanied by his wife Ri Sol-ju and his younger sister Kim Yo-jong. This is the first time that North Korean media has shown Kim attending a public event in the company of the two women.

Korean Central News Agency reported on Mar. 23 that Kim had watched a concert by the Moranbong Band with Ri Sol-ju and Kim Yo-jong. While Kim Yo-jong had been present when the band performed for Kim on Mar. 17, Ri had not been able to attend.

In pictures released of the event, Kim Yo-jong was shown sitting one row behind Kin, two seats to his left, between Han Kwang-sang, director of the KWP Finance and Accounting Department, and Kim Byong-ho, KWP deputy director. Judging by the seating arrangement, Kim Yo-jong’s rank is conjectured to be equivalent to that of a KWP vice director.

During the election of deputies to the Supreme People’s Assembly on Mar. 9, Kim Yo-jong was introduced for the first time as “a responsible worker in the central committee of the Korean Workers’ Party.”

The event represents Ri Sol-ju’s return to public view after a month-long absence. She had been previously seen with her husband at a performance of the Merited State Chorus of the Korean People’s Army on Feb. 28.

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]