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| Yeo-jeong Kim, First Vice President of the Labor Party © News1 |
It was raised that the position of 1st Vice-President Kim Yeo-jeong, the younger brother of North Korea’s State Council Chairman Kim Jong-un, will “rise” on the occasion of the 8th Labor Party Congress.
According to the Labor Newspaper, the Labor Party’s agency on the 11th, Kim’s first vice-president’s name is missing in the publications of the 8th Plenary Meeting of the Labor Party’s Central Committee. The name is missing from the list of members of the Political Bureau of the Party Central Committee and the list of candidates of the Political Bureau, which was the former vice-president Kim’s position.
The first vice-president Kim’s name is on the list of members of the Party Central Committee. However, since the list is lower than that of the candidates for the Political Bureau, which is the previous position, attention is drawn to the possibility of change in the position of First Vice-Director Kim.
First Vice-Director Kim was elected as a candidate for the Political Bureau in April of last year, showing active political moves, and he performed Chairman Kim in a short distance.
In particular, in June, it took the lead in conducting an’adversarial project’ in South Korea. At the time, the North Korean authorities officially admitted that the first vice-president Kim held the position of’overseeing South Korea’, and issued statements in his name to the South and the United States, consolidating that he was in charge of North Korea’s diplomacy.
The National Intelligence Service also recognized the first vice-president Kim as North Korea’s’second man’ last year. In a state affairs audit of the National Assembly Information Committee, the National Intelligence Service said, “We are involved in the overall state affairs of not only diplomacy and security, but also the general planning of the party’s visitation events,” and seeing the possibility of a position upgrade in the future.
Experts also weighed on the possibility of a change in the status of First Vice-Director Kim. Some argued that North Korea could create an organization similar to the Korean National Security Council (NSC) and put the first vice-president Kim in charge.
However, it is analyzed that the results of this personnel management alone cannot be regarded as a decrease in the position of First Vice-Director Kim.
It is observed that the political status will remain as he has participated in the overall administration of major government affairs through’baekdu bloodline’ and assisted Chairman Kim.
Im-chul, a professor at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies at Kyungnam University, said, “With regard to Kim Yeo-jung’s status and official status, it seems that the hasty judgment should be withheld.” You have to keep it open,” he said.
Kim In-tae, a senior research fellow at the National Security Strategy Research Institute, said in the call, “It is possible that the part such as Kim Yeo-jeong being mentioned as a successor from the outside served as a burden.” In the analysis, “I may have pushed up the first vice-director Cho Yong-won to assist him.”
In particular, researcher Kim said, “Under the monolithic regime in North Korea, blood ties are not allowed, so it is necessary to pay attention to the younger brother of the top leader.” As a whole, there is a possibility that Kim Yeo-jung’s official position will be carefully appointed in the future.”