Kim Jong Il has a sister

And apparently she’s a music buff. A little North Korean Kremlinology from Nightwatch‘s John McCreary: Yonhap also reported an infrequent sighting of Kim’s only sister, according to North Korean state media today. Kim Cho’ng-il was accompanied by his sister Kim Kyong-hui during an undated visit to a music school. According to the state media, Kim ...

And apparently she's a music buff. A little North Korean Kremlinology from Nightwatch's John McCreary:

And apparently she’s a music buff. A little North Korean Kremlinology from Nightwatch‘s John McCreary:

Yonhap also reported an infrequent sighting of Kim’s only sister, according to North Korean state media today. Kim Cho’ng-il was accompanied by his sister Kim Kyong-hui during an undated visit to a music school.

According to the state media, Kim Chong-il  "gave guidance" for the production of the Russian opera "Evgeni Onegin" at the Pyongyang Kim Won Gyun Conservatory, the report said. He was accompanied by Workers’ Party "Secretary Kim Ki-nam and department directors Kim Kyong-hui, Chang Song-taek and Ch’oe Ik-kyu." […]

According to Yonhap, Kim Kyong-hui, a department director in the Workers’ Party, was last seen in a still photo of a parliamentary meeting in 2003. She has been photographed at significant events, such the funeral of her and Kim’s father, Kim Il Sung, in 1994 and at parliamentary sessions. She has never been photographed with her brother Kim Chong-il during one of his inspection tours.

Kim Kyong-hui is married to Chang Song-taek who was appointed to the National Defense Commission in April, for the first time. The National Defense Commission is the highest policy-making organization in the state, and is chaired by Kim Chong-il. The North Korean government is very much a family affair in that the family members of Kim Il-sung and his wives and his son and his wives and children all have jobs in the government. Plus their body guards and the families of their body guards also have jobs.

Jang (or Chang, depending on what style of transliteration you choose) Song-taek is a name that keeps popping up in analyses of the North Korean regime. He could emerge as the "man behind the curtain" if one of Kim Jong Il’s sons takes formal power.

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