Kim Yo Jong steps up as Pyongyang reshuffles power

North Korea’s latest party congress has offered a familiar picture of continuity at the top — Kim Jong Un re-elected, the five-year economic line reaffirmed — but the more revealing shift may be just to his side. His sister, Kim Yo Jong, has been elevated to full department director within the ruling Workers’ Party, a promotion that further formalises the authority she has exercised for years from the shadows.

State media confirmed the move as thousands of party elites gathered in Pyongyang for the once-in-five-years congress that sets the country’s direction on everything from economic planning to diplomacy and war strategy. According to South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency, she is likely to take charge of the powerful propaganda department, a post that would place her at the centre of both domestic messaging and external signalling, including the sensitive management of relations with Seoul and Washington.

Kim Yo Jong has long functioned as her brother’s most trusted political operator, the voice that issues sharp statements at moments of tension, the emissary who appeared at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics during a brief thaw in inter-Korean relations, and the figure who translates leadership intent into party discipline. The new title does not so much create influence as codify it.

Her trajectory mirrors the system she serves. Born in the late 1980s and educated in Switzerland alongside Kim Jong Un, she rose rapidly after he inherited power in 2011. In a political structure where loyalty is currency and bloodline is legitimacy, her role has always been both personal and institutional — family authority woven into party hierarchy.

The promotion comes as Kim Jong Un frames the next five years as a “full-scale progress phase”, calling for a transformation in thinking, technology and culture to better manage new economic projects. The message suggests an attempt to project forward momentum despite sanctions and structural constraints, while maintaining the long-standing formula in which military strength and political control underpin any economic agenda.

At the same congress, Kim secured another term as secretary-general, extending a 15-year rule that has steadily concentrated power in his hands. A congratulatory message from Chinese President Xi Jinping underlined the external pillar of that stability, reinforcing the importance of Beijing to Pyongyang’s strategic environment.

Attention has also been drawn to Kim Ju Ae, the leader’s teenage daughter, whose increasingly frequent appearances at missile tests and military ceremonies have fuelled speculation about succession. Yet for now, the internal balance of power looks less like a transition and more like consolidation: a family core tightening its grip while presenting an image of institutional order.