The aunt of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un made a rare public appearance this week after her husband was executed by the country in 2013.
Kim Kyong-hui, a former senior official of the ruling Workers' Party, is the sister of Jong-un's father and late North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il.
She was a key figure as her nephew first settled into the role of supreme leader, however she has not been seen in public since January 2020 after staying out of the spotlight following the death of her husband, Jang Song-thaek.
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Prior to his death, Song-thaek was widely considered the second-most powerful figure in the North before being convicted of treason in 2013. He was executed by machine gun at the Gang Gun Military Academy in a Pyongyang suburb of the capital, Pyongyang, after which his body was incinerated with a flamethrower, according to The New York Times.
The book Son-in-Law of a Theocracy claims Song-thaek dreamed of reforming North Korea and explained he married Kyong-hui in 1972 after the pair met at university. During trips abroad to shop for Kim Jong-il, Song-thaek is said to have spoken about people dying of hunger in his home country.
Following the death of Jong-il, Song-thaek helped Jong-un establish himself as successor while continuing to spread his own influence, however the reform appeared to undermine Jong-un's totalitarian rule. Though exact reasons for his execution remain unclear, North Korea described Song-thaek was 'human scum worse than a dog' and claimed he had betrayed the Kim family by plotting to overthrow Jong-un.
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The indictment for Song-thaek also reportedly noted that he clapped only 'halfheartedly' when Jong-un was being upheld as supreme leader.
Song-thaek's name was removed from all official records in North Korea, while his wife was described as being sickly in the period after his death.
According to Metro.us, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) said in 2017 she was dealing with unspecified illness outside Pyongyang, however state television showed that she recently appeared alongside Jong-un and his wife, Ri Sol Ju, at an art performance at the Mansudae Art Theatre in Pyongyang.
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The family are said to have been celebrating the Lunar New Year holiday, with a official news agency KCNA explaining: 'When (Kim) appeared at the auditorium of the theatre with his wife, Ri Sol Ju, amid the playing of the welcome music, the audience raised stormy cheers of ‘Hurrah!''
The leader's wife was last seen publicly on September 9, 2021 when she joined Jong-un in visiting the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun on the anniversary of the country’s founding.
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Topics: Kim Jong-un, World News, no-article-matching
Emily Brown