Sister promoted to second-in-command

Kim Yo Jong, Kim Jong Un’s younger sister who is believed to be 26 years old, is listed by the KCNA state-run news agency as a vice department director in the Workers’ Party central committee. Following her brother’s period of ill health, she has begun accompanying Kim Jong Un on his field guidance trips and to political events, and is reported to be capable of carrying on the ruling family’s hold on power as a successor in the event of Kim Jong Un’s death by natural causes or assassination. Kim Jong Il is also reported to have relied on his own sister during his rule of North Korea. Analysts say she may be in the powerful Workers’ Party organizational department handling personnel changes, or in a propaganda unit.