Kim Jong Un's Sister Kim Yo Jong Promoted As Kim Family Tightens Power Grip

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's sister has been promoted, the latest sign of the Kim family consolidating its grip on power as the ruling party convenes a key party meeting to chart the policy direction for the coming years. 

Kim Yo Jong, previously a vice department director of the Central Committee of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, was named a director of one of the departments, the official Korean Central News Agency reported Tuesday. It was not immediately clear which sector she was appointed to lead. 

Her elevation comes as North Korea's closely-watched party congress, the first one in five years, is underway in Pyongyang. The gathering of 5,000 delegates started Thursday and included the re-election of leader Kim as the party's general secretary.

In a further sign that the Kim dynasty is likely to continue ruling North Korea, leader Kim's teenage daughter, Kim Ju Ae, appears to have entered a phase of being designated as his successor, according to an assessment this month by South Korea's spy agency. North Korea has been ruled by the Kim family since its founding in the 1940s.

Kim Yo Jong has been serving as a main voice for the regime, leading a series of threats and provocations against South Korea. However, her most recent statement - saying she "highly appreciates" Seoul's expression of regret over a series of drone incursions across the border - struck a rare positive tone.

She is one of the few members of the Kim family to maintain a prominent position and be mentioned in state media in a country where the leader's siblings have often not fared well.

Kim Jong Un has been accused of ordering the 2017 murder of his older half-brother and most serious rival, Kim Jong Nam. Former leader Kim Jong Il's brother drowned as a child, and another half-brother was effectively exiled for decades.

With Kim yet to unveil details on his US policy or the regime's nuclear development plans, KCNA said the congress "went into the work procedure to study and discuss in detail the long-term goals." 

The North Korean leader said last month that he would "clarify the next-stage plans for further bolstering the country's nuclear war deterrent" at the party gathering.

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