AFP – South Korea’s intelligence agency said yesterday it was analysing rare state media footage showing the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un with two children – saying they could be hers.
Key regime spokeswoman Kim Yo Jong was spotted with two youngsters – a boy and a girl – while attending North Korea’s New Year art performance. She was seen holding the boy’s hand as the three walked together. The isolated North has never officially disclosed any information about Kim Yo Jong’s marital status or children, but Seoul’s intelligence agency said it was examining whether the children in the state media footage were hers.
“We are conducting a detailed analysis while keeping the possibility open,” it said in a statement.
The National Intelligence Service said they had previously detected that Kim Yo Jong might have children, and the ones she was photographed with were in the correct age range.
Seoul’s unification ministry told AFP that the art performance event in Pyongyang is understood to be one where participants are expected to accompany their family members, but said it was “unusual” to see Kim Yo Jong with children.
State media footage also showed leader Kim with his teenage daughter, known as Ju Ae.
Seoul-based specialist site NK News said the release of the images might be part of a “propaganda effort to humanise regime officials”.
