Sawt Falasteen - N.Korea leader's sister promoted at party congress

The Workers' Party Central Committee on Monday named Kim Yo Jong -- previously a deputy department director -- as a full department director, Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

Thousands of party elites have packed the capital Pyongyang for a once-in-five-years summit of the ruling Workers' Party, a gathering that directs state efforts on everything from diplomacy to war planning.

The congress offers a rare glimpse into the political workings of reclusive North Korea, and is widely seen as a forum for Kim to flex his grip on power.

Kim Yo Jong has long been among her brother's closest lieutenants, and one of the most influential women in the isolated regime.

Born in the late 1980s, according to the South Korean government, she is one of three children born to Kim's father and predecessor, Kim Jong Il, and his third known partner, former dancer Ko Yong Hui.

She was educated in Switzerland alongside her brother and rose rapidly up the ranks once he inherited power after their father's death in 2011.

In 2018, she visited South Korea for the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, during a period of inter-Korean rapprochement.

Pyongyang also frequently uses her name to issue statements outlining its positions or criticising the South and the US.

- Heir apparent -

Later in the days-long congress, Kim Jong Un is expected to unveil the next phase in North Korea's nuclear weapons programme.

The country's nuclear arsenal has been transformed under Kim from a source of mild global concern to something treated as a genuine threat.

It is just the ninth time the Workers' Party congress has convened under North Korea's decades-spanning Kim rule.

Particular attention will also be placed on the whereabouts of Kim's teenage daughter Ju Ae, who has emerged as North Korea's heir apparent, according to Seoul's national intelligence service.

At the previous congress five years ago, Kim declared that the United States was his nation's "biggest enemy".

There is keen interest in whether Kim might use the congress to soften this stance, or double down.

US President Donald Trump stepped up his courtship of Kim during a tour of Asia last year, saying he was "100 percent" open to a meeting.

Kim has so far largely shunned efforts to resume top-level diplomatic dialogue.

D.Qudsi--SF-PST