North Korean politician Kim Yo Jong, 33, has been granted partial authority over North Korea as reports continue to mount that her older brother Kim Jong Un is reportedly in a coma.
Chang Song-min, a former aide to late-South Korean president Kim Dae-Jung, alleged that Jong Un has become very ill amid speculation about his limited public appearances this year, the Mirror reported.
“I assess him to be in a coma, but his life has not ended,” he told South Korean media.
The former aide also noted that the Hermit Kingdom’s honcho’s younger sister was equipped to help run the country.
“A complete succession structure has not been formed, so Kim Yo-jong is being brought to the fore as the vacuum cannot be maintained for a prolonged period,” he said.
His claims come after it was revealed through South Korean spies that Yo-jong currently acts as ger brother’s “de facto second-in-command,” although she has not been named his successor.
In a secured meeting with congress, the National Intelligence Service stated that the authority shift momentarily seeks to “relieve (Kim’s) stress from his reign and avert culpability in the event of policy failure,” the Yonhap News Agency reported.
“Kim Yo Jong, the first vice department director of the Workers’ Party Central Committee, is steering overall state affairs based on the delegation,” the agency reportedly said.
Kim Jong Un has only been seen in public a handful of times this year after rumors swirled that he was fighting for his life in April due to a botched heart operation.
“While no one likes to see the continued success of a brutal dictator if Kim Jong-un had died… it’s not necessarily going to be a good thing for the world,” Chris Mikul said to Express.co.uk. “We know he has got nuclear weapons now, which makes him the most successful Kim because he has managed to attain a goal they were trying to achieve since the Sixties.”
He continued, “It’s probably better to have Kim Jong-un ruling, which is horrible to say, but it appears that the economy is better under him than it has been, or at least as good as it’s ever been under any of the Kims.”
