Yonhap News
Government officials in North Korea are living in fear after a series of executions of their colleagues on the orders of leader Kim Jong Un’s powerful sister, Kim Yo Jong, two officials told RFA.
Since her brother’s rule began in 2011, Kim Yo Jong’s rise to power in her own right culminated in her becoming an alternate member of the Politburo in April 2020. At the time, her brother was rumored to be having health issues and some experts believed she could have been an option to replace him in the event of his death.
But she was demoted during the ruling Korean Workers’ Party’s Eighth Party Congress in January, becoming just a member of the Party’s Central Committee, with her rank reduced from first deputy director to deputy director. Still, she remains one of North Korea’s most powerful people, and sources said she has ordered executions of government officials simply for “getting on her nerves.”
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AFP
A law against sending leaflets into North Korea has been in effect in South Korea since March. On May 6, South Korean police searched the office of Park Sang-hak, a North Korean defector who had sent leaflets into North Korea. Police then summoned him for questioning four days later. On May 12, RFA Korean Service reporter Albert Hong discussed Park’s case with U.S. Congressman Chris Smith, co-chair of the bipartisan Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission. The interview has been edited for clarity and length.
RFA: Regarding the anti-Pyongyang leaflet ban, there is a lot of controversy in South Korea now, with people saying they feel that North Korean residents living near the DMZ deserve to know the truth about conditions in their country and about life in the South. What do you think about this?