Who is Kim Jong Un’s sister Kim Yo Jong – the ‘second-most powerful person’ in North Korea?

Kim Jong Un’s sister Kim Yo Jong has often been described as the second-most powerful person in North Korea.

Ms Kim holds two senior roles in her brother’s government and has gained international attention for insulting her South Korean counterpart and other foreign leaders.

She is often seen by the supreme leader’s side at military demonstrations and international summits – and was spotted with him and Russian President Vladimir Putin ahead of their bilateral meeting and China’s military parade in Beijing.

Like her brother, much of her personal life is shrouded in secrecy – but here is what we know about her.

Quick rise to power after father’s death

Ms Kim is believed to be in her late 30s and is the only daughter of the five children born to Kim Jong II – Kim Jong Un’s father and North Korea’s supreme leader from 1994 until his death in 2011.

She made her first major public appearance at her father’s funeral, quickly asserting her influence in her brother’s regime after he took power.

She was rumoured to have temporarily replaced him in 2014 during a month-long period when he was not seen in public.

She has served as vice director of the ruling Korean Workers’ Party’s Propaganda and Agitation Department since 2014 and became a member of the country’s most senior decision-making body, the State Affairs Commission, in 2021, according to South Korea‘s Unification Ministry.

None of her other siblings have gained the same political influence as her.

She was part of North Korea‘s delegation at the Winter Olympics in South Korea in 2018 and has acted as a special envoy at meetings with Seoul officials.

She was added to the US sanctions list in 2017 as a result of North Korea’s human rights record.

Like Mr Kim, she is thought to have spent some of her childhood in Bern, Switzerland, where she attended school, before returning home to study at Kim II Sung University.

It has been reported that she is married and has two children, although this has never been officially confirmed.

What controversial comments has she made?

Ms Kim has flung repeated insults at her counterparts over the border in South Korea.

In August 2022, she responded to its offer of economic aid in exchange for denuclearisation by telling former South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol to “shut his mouth”.

She also called him “really simple and still childish”.

South Korea’s unification minister described her comments as “disrespectful and indecent”.

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That year, she also accused Seoul of bringing coronavirus into North Korea through its campaign of dropping rubbish-filled balloons and propaganda leaflets over the border.

“We have cleared out the virus spread by the South Korean scum,” she said afterwards. “We must counter it toughly. We have already considered various counteraction plans but our countermeasure must be a deadly retaliatory one.”

In November 2022, she referred to Mr Yoon’s government as “idiots” amid speculation Seoul was planning provocation measures against Pyongyang.

South Korea described her comments as “very deplorable” and accused her of showing “no basic form of etiquette”.

During his time in the White House, Ms Kim referred to then US president Joe Biden as an “old man with no future” after the US stepped up support of South Korea.

More recently, she has denied claims Pyongyang authorities have removed loudspeakers placed by South Korean propaganda officials at the border.

She has also been critical of President Donald Trump for showing what she describes as “its most hostile and confrontational will” to North Korea.

Since returning to power in January, Mr Trump has expressed a desire to restart talks with Mr Kim after two failed denuclearisation summits during his last term in 2018 and 2019.

But Ms Kim has warned the US leader against efforts towards nuclear disarmament or support for the South, saying it makes a “mockery of the other party [North Korea]”.