Last week, we reported that rumors were swirling that Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, had come to power in the hermit kingdom. Now, it’s being reported that these reports of Kim Yo Jong becoming her brother’s “de facto second-in command” may have come back to bite her, as they may have enraged the paranoid dictator.

The Sun reported that rumors are swirling that Kim Yo Jong has been purged by her brother, as she has not been seen in public in over a month. She could be laying low to offset speculation that Kim Jong Un had given more power to her.

North Korea expert Professor Nam Sung-wook, of Korea University, told The Chosun Ilbo that Kim Yo Jong’s increasing profile may end up being her downfall.

“In the past, anyone was deprived of their position the moment they were described as the number two person in the North,”  he said. “There must be a semblance of checks and balances, although Kim Yo-jong is a family member.”

Nam added that while it’s possible that Kim Yo Jong left the spotlight by her own accord, her brother is notorious for eliminating anyone he sees as a threat to his power. Kim Jong Un infamously executed the highly-regarded official Jang Song-thaek, who was his father’s son-in-law. This came after Jang was described as North Korea’s de-facto leader when Kim Jong-Il, the current ruler’s father, was dying.

Jang disappeared in 2013, and North Korea released an official statement that blasted him as “worse than a dog” who was intent on “grabbing the supreme power by the most cunning a sinister means.” Reports that have never been confirmed state that Jang’s family suffered the same fate as he did after Kim decided to rid himself of his rival.

Kim Yo Jong has been seen at an increasing number of international events since 2018, when she was spotted with her brother at the peace summit in Singapore between U.S. and North Korea. That same year, she was the highest ranking North Korean official to travel to the 2018 Winter Olympics held in South Korea.

Sung-Yoon Lee, a professor at Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, said it was clear that Kim Yo Jong was being groomed for power.

“The way for her to build up her credibility and net worth, that is, the way for her to get respect, is not to play nice but be a cruel dictator to her people and a credible nuclear threat to the US,” he said. “”She may prove herself fiercer and more tyrannical than her brother, father, or grandfather.”

This piece originally appeared in UpliftingToday.com and is used by permission.

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