The power behind the throne

Kim Yo Jong holds the title of deputy director of the Publicity and Information Department of the Workers' Party of Korea.

She also sits on the State Affairs Commission, the highest decision-making body in North Korea, and, at 38 years old, she stands directly behind Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un in terms of influence and reach.

She doesn't command divisions on paper; she shapes something more powerful: She controls the image, message, and the fear, using propaganda that sustains the Kim dynasty.

Her statements are issued in her own name, which carries the weight of the regime. Analysts describe her as the de facto number two inside Pyongyang.

Her rise wasn't an accident; she grew up in the same insulated world as her brother, educated abroad, then returned to help build the myth around him, learning early that survival in the Kim family demands ruthless loyalty and zero hesitation.

Her language reveals her nature

There's no soft diplomatic phrasing for Kim Yo Jong to stand behind; she attacks openly and personally.

In 2022, she called South Korea's defense minister a "scum-like guy" and warned of destruction. She threatened that Seoul could face total ruin. She also mocked officials, demanding they "discipline themselves."

As you might imagine, American leaders have targets on their backs, too. Her statements often mix insult with nuclear warning. She dismisses talks as deception, and calls cooperation nothing more than a fantasy.

Her words drip with contempt, and she never walks back a threat.

Recently, reports have surfaced that she's escalated tensions over loudspeaker broadcasts, drone flights, and joint military exercises, and frames retaliation as inevitable and beyond any semblance of proportionality.

When Kim Yo Jong speaks, expect missile tests to shortly follow; a pattern that matters.

Brutality defines her world

North Korea is one of the most repressive regimes on the planet. Political prison camps hold tens of thousands, public executions silence dissent, while starvation and fear enforce obedience.

Kim Yo Jung sits comfortably within that system, not outside it.

The regime executed her uncle, Jang Song-thaek, in 2013 by firing squad. His offense? He was labeled disloyal. In 2017, agents assassinated her half-brother, Kim Jong Nam, using VX nerve agent in a Malaysian airport. 

Power in the Kim family never includes the term "mercy."

Kim Yo Jong helped defend and justify those actions through the state's propaganda machine, reinforcing the message that the Kim bloodline is synonymous with the nation's survival. Loyalty remains absolute, while dissent invites disappearance.

Her public persona often looks as though she's composed and even smiling on occasion, but that surface masks a system built on both fear and control.

Succession tension grows

Kim Jong Un has placed his daughter, Kim Ju Ae, in the spotlight during missile launches and military parades. Analysts view the move as a way to groom a successor, a development putting Kim Yo Jong in a precarious position.

Rah Jong Yil, a former South Korean ambassador to the United Kingdom and a former deputy of South Korea's intelligence service, warned that Kim Yo Jong has enough political and military backing to seize control if circumstances shift. Fyodor Tertitskly, a North Korean historian, wrote that succession battles in Pyongyang rarely end quietly, as the loser risks exile, prison, or death.

She already appears more frequently at major state events and issues more statements under her own authority, expanding her visibility. It's a pattern suggesting preparation, not passivity.

Why she matters beyond Pyongyang

Kim Yo Jong unapologetically champions the nuclear program, defends missile launches that rattle South Korea and Japan, and calls denuclearization a weakness, while framing every Western sanction as proof of hostility.

North Korea remains a nuclear-armed state with a growing missile range. Her voice shapes how that arsenal gets used politically, fueling escalation while presenting it as defense.

Regional allies watch her closely because any miscalculation in Pyongyang carries global consequences. She doesn't appear interested in going halfway; she's simply interested in leverage.

As secretive as the North Korean government is, its brutality has never been hidden. What's changed is her visibility; she no longer works only behind the curtain, stepping forward more often, speaking more directly, and signaling that the Kim dynasty has more than one hard-line enforcer ready to act.

The world is foolish to dismiss her as simply "the" sister.

Final thoughts

Power in North Korea doesn't reward softness; it rewards control, fear, and decisive action, things Kim Yo Jong embodies. She stands close enough to power to shape it, while being ambitious enough to seize more if the chance appears.

For me, if I close my eyes, subtract decades of age, and picture sharply defined pantsuits, I imagine one Hillary Clinton. The only difference between the two is that Hillary doesn't possess launch codes.

I think.

North Korea already poses a nuclear threat, and Kim Yo Jong ensures that the threat never quietly fades into black.

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