South Korea Sees North's Kim Jong Un Giving More Power to His Sister

South Korea's spy agency has determined that North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong Un is delegating more powers to his sister, Kim Yo Jong, as the country recalibrates its policies amid a breakdown in peace talks with its rival neighbor and the United States.

Following a closed-door briefing by the National Intelligence Service to lawmakers, opposition United Future Party member Ha Tae-keung told reporters Thursday that the agency revealed how Kim Yo Jong, the first vice department director of the ruling Korean Workers' Party Central Committee, is being tasked with "steering overall state affairs."

She is "in charge of the strategy toward the United States, and especially toward South Korea," Ha added, emphasizing that she would still be ultimately reporting to her older brother. Ha said Kim Jong Un "is still in absolute power" but was gradually making Kim Yo Jong his effective "number two."

Kim Byung-kee of South Korea's ruling Democratic Party confirmed Kim Yo Jong's new position in guiding U.S. and South Korean affairs and clarified that this did not mean that Kim Jong Un had chosen his sister to succeed him. Others have also received expanded authorities, with State Affairs Commission Vice Chairman Pak Pong Ju and Premier Kim Tok Hun given economic oversight. In addition, Korean Workers' Party Military Affairs Director Choe Pu Il and Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Ri Pyong Chol have been granted wider roles.

The South Korean lawmaker also revealed that the National Intelligence Service observed no indications that Kim Jong Un was unwell, though nine years of power means the "stress has increased a lot" and "there is high risk in the event of a policy failure."

Kim Yo Jong, 32, is the youngest of three siblings known to have been born to Kim Jong Il and Ko Yong Hui. She is believed to have been raised abroad alongside Kim Jong Un and elder brother Kim Jong Chol in Switzerland. She later worked alongside her late father and has been steadily promoted since her brother took power after the second-generation leader's death in 2011.

She has assumed an especially visible role since being named an alternate member of her party's Central Committee Politburo in 2017 and after the historic peace process with the U.S. and South Korea that began the following year. During that process, she became the first member of her family to cross the inter-Korean border in attending the 2018 Winter Olympic Games. As these negotiations stalled and ultimately began to unravel, Kim Yo Jong's role has only been amplified.

In March, Kim Yo Jong offered her first public statement on behalf of her brother, admonishing South Korea over its criticism of North Korean short-range missile launches. When a series of public absences and anonymous reports raised speculation about Kim Jong Un's health, some observers looked to his sister as a potential de facto ruler or even successor, though both U.S. and South Korean officials downplayed such conjecture.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told the media in April that "whoever is leading North Korea, we want them to give up their nuclear program, we want them to join the league of nations, and we want a brighter future for the North Korean people."

But North Korea has grown frustrated with a perceived lack of progress, and Kim Yo Jong has been on the forefront of a new foreign policy direction. She has served in recent months as the spokesperson for Pyongyang's severing of ties with Seoul over cross-border propaganda balloon flights by defectors and the dramatic demolition of their joint liaison office in June.

She has also addressed President Donald Trump directly on several occasions, praising the warm personal ties between the U.S. and North Korean leaders but ultimately criticizing his administration's failure to engage beyond an unconditional denuclearization-first approach. Kim Jong Un has since resumed emphasizing the necessity of maintaining a nuclear deterrence against potential aggressors such as the U.S.

On Wednesday, the young ruler oversaw the sixth plenary meeting of the Korean Workers' Party seventh Central Committee, where he discussed the agenda for the 8th Party Congress, expected to be held in January. There, Kim Jong Un said he would lay out a five-year economic plan.

At Wednesday's gathering, he recalled how North Korea "faced unexpected and inevitable challenges in various aspects and the situation in the region surrounding the Korean peninsula," according to a readout shared Thursday by the Korean Central News Agency. He also "assessed achievements and shortcomings that have been seen in the Party and the state affairs for the past four years since the historic 7th Party Congress," the readout said.