Kim Jong Un Applauds Nukes, Promotes His Sister

Trump responds with yet another implied military threat
By Josh Rosenblatt,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 8, 2017 10:20 AM CDT
Kim Jong Un Promotes Sister to Powerful Government Post
   (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)

In the midst of continued war threats between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un this weekend, the North Korean leader took time out to promote his sister to the top decision-making body in the country. Reuters reports that the promotion of Kim Yo Jung, the youngest daughter of former leader Kim Jong-Il, to the politburo was made Saturday at a meeting of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party and represents a further consolidation of family power in North Korea. The 28-year-old was made an alternate member of the politburo, replacing her aunt, Kim Kyong Hui, who was a powerful advisor to Kim Jong Il.

Kim Yo Jung, who was blacklisted by the US Treasury Department in January over "severe human rights abuses," has long been an influential member of her brother's government, helping create his public image in her role as the vice-director of Pyongyang's Propaganda and Agitation Department, CNN reports. At the same meeting Saturday, Kim Jong Un claimed that his country's nuclear weapons program has proven to be a "powerful deterrent" against the "protracted nuclear threats of the U.S. imperialists." Just hours later, the Washington Post reports, Trump tweeted that North Korea has been "making fools" of the U.S. for 25 years, and that "only one thing will work!" (More Kim Jong Un stories.)

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