According to the Guardian and CNN, Korean dictator Kim Jong-un’s sister Kim Yo-jong is now in charge of the affairs of North Korea, following what a former aide to a former South Korean president described as Kim slipping into a coma.
Chang Song-min, who served as an aide to the late president of South Korea Kim Dae-jung, told South Korean media on Sunday about the North Korean dictator: “I assess him to be in a coma, but his life has not ended.”
Kim Yo-jong has been granted authority to take care of the general affairs of her country, according to Western media outlets, and South Korea’s Intelligence Service has reportedly assessed that she is now the de-facto second in command” in North Korea.
Kim is the youngest child of North Korea’s second Supreme Leader, Kim Jong-il. She received her first official mention in state media in March 2014, when she accompanied her brother in voting for the Supreme People’s Assembly. She was named as a “senior official” of the WPK Central Committee. In October 2014, she was reported to have taken over state duties for her ailing brother while he underwent medical treatment. The following month, she was appointed as First Deputy Director of the party’s Propaganda and Agitation Department.
There has been much speculation recently over Kim Jong-un’s health, including the suggestion that was infected with COVID-19. If he is in coma, as reported, it could have been induced to help manage his illness with ventilation.