Here’s a look at the life of North Korean government official Kim Yo Jong, Kim Jong Un’s sister. Although, little is known about her as the family is notoriously secretive.
Personal
Date of birth: September 26, 1987 or 1988 (believed to be in her early 30s, although her year of birth varies).
Dad: Kim Jong Il
Mother: Ko Yong Hui
Marriage: Choe Song
Kids: information not publicly available
Education: Kim Il Sung University
Education and family
She attended school in Bern, Switzerland, around the same time as his brother Kim Jong Un in the late 1990s. She studied under various pseudonyms.
She is one of at least five known siblings. She is the youngest daughter of former North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and Ko Yong Hui. She is the sister of current leader Kim Jong Un. Her grandfather was the first leader of North Korea.
Political career and public appearances
2007 – She was named a youth cadre in the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK).
2009-2011 – Works in the National Defense Commission and serves as Kim Jong Il’s personal secretary
December 2011 – attends his father’s state funeral.
March 2014 – Attend the elections of the Supreme People’s Assembly. This is her first public appearance alongside his brother and the first public mention of her name by North Korean state media.
October 2014 – According to a Seoul-based think tank led by North Korean defectors, Kim briefly takes over the country while her brother is reportedly ill with gout or diabetes.
2014 – She is appointed deputy director of the Propaganda and Agitation Department of the Workers’ Party of Korea.
January 11, 2017 – The US Treasury Department publishes a statement designating and sanctioning Kim Yo Jong in response to “human rights abuses and censorship activities”.
October 8, 2017 – January 2021 – Alternate Member of the Politburo of the WPK. It is unclear in what capacity she has served in this role. On some lists it is not named, leading to speculation that it has been downgraded and reinstalled more than once.
As of January 2021, she is no longer listed as an alternate member. She has also been alternately named as “first deputy director of department” to “deputy director of department” of the Politburo.
February 9, 2018 – Kim attends the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics held in Pyeongchang, South Korea. She is the first member of the Northern ruling dynasty to visit the South since the end of the Korean War in 1953.
February 10, 2018 – She meets with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and issues a formal invitation to Moon from Kim Jong Un to travel to North Korea for what would be the first meeting of Korean leaders since 2007.
June 12, 2018 – She attends the US-North Korea summit in Singapore as an envoy for Kim Jong Un and meets with US President Donald Trump.
February 27-28, 2019 – Attends the US-North Korea summit in Hanoi, Vietnam.
March 12, 2019 – North Korean state media announces that Kim Yo Jong is elected to the Supreme People’s Assembly.
September 30, 2021: Kim Yo Jong is now a member of the State Affairs Commission (SAC), the country’s governing body headed by his brother.