Quick Take: Kim Yo Jong’s Evolving Messaging
Kim Yo Jong’s April 6 communiqué replying to South Korean President Lee Jae Myung’s apology for 2025 drone incursions showed an evolution to the text of her public statements. It was the first observed occasion in which she explicitly attributed a new opinion or perspective to her brother, supreme leader Kim Jong Un.
Until now, Kim Yo Jong has avoided mentioning or alluding to Kim Jong Un’s reactions or viewpoints to the topics or events her statements seek to address. In past communiqués, she has alluded to statements and verbiage Kim Jong Un has made himself or which had surfaced in a separate fora. In her April 6 statement, his paraphrased comment is presented as something new and previously unreported.
If we follow the mechanics of her statement, in the second paragraph, she recapitulates President Lee’s apology for the drone incursion. In the third paragraph, she says that President Lee “personally expressed regret.” In the next sentence, she said the North Korean “government appreciated it as very fortunate and wise behavior for its own sake.”
In the one-sentence, fourth paragraph, Kim Yo Jong refers to Kim Jong Un as “our head of state” and says he “commented it as a manifestation of frank and broad-minded man’s attitude.” Here, Kim Yo Jong is paraphrasing Kim Jong Un’s response. It is not a direct quote or statement, but a characterization of what he said. This is quite notable because a paraphrase like this is common for presidential and prime ministerial spokespeople.
In the final two paragraphs, Kim Yo Jong returns to her regularly-scheduled programming. She issues a warning against further drone incursions and warns of a North Korean reaction. The basic mechanics of Kim Yo Jong’s April 6 communique are: President Lee said/our government said/Kim Jong Un said/I am saying. There is no explicit or implicit connection between Kim Jong Un’s paraphrased reaction and the two paragraphs following it.
A day later, following Kim Yo Jong’s statement came a more poetic communiqué from Jang Kum Chol, first vice Foreign Minister and head of the Foreign Ministry’s Tenth Department. Jang’s statement recapitulated Kim Yo Jong’s warning to the South Korean government and underscored that North Korea acknowledging Lee Jae Myung’s apology should not be construed as an amicable gesture. Jang refers to Kim Yo Jong’s statement as having “very short and gentle sentences and expressions,” sort playing the bad cop in restating the North’s position. Jang does not even touch the Kim Jong Un paraphrase mentioned in Kim Yo Jong’s statement, which probably indicates that the supreme leader’s one-sentence was his only perspective in the whole item, separate from both Kim Yo Jong and Jang Kum Chol’s rhetoric.
In a recent analysis by Donghyuk Shin for 38 North’s Emerging Scholars Program creatively categorized Kim Yo Jong’s media statements based on context and tenor. Leveraging that, one median conclusion we might reach is that no matter the event or topic, Kim Yo Jong is expressing her perspective as a top North Korean elite. In Jang Kum Chol’s statement he referred to discussing Kim Yo Jong’s statement with her and adding his thoughts. Taking all this into account, we might see these communiques as insight into the advice Kim Jong Un hears from some (probably not all) elites. This provides what might be a small insight into what gets discussed when he is briefed and when he is deciding on policy.
Given this is the third Kim Yo Jong statement since her appointment to the position of Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) General Affairs Department Director, this might be the pretext for elevating the scope and content of her public statements. Paraphrasing Kim Jong Un could be a one-off event. On the other hand, it could indicate going forward that Kim Yo Jong’s public statements will combine core elite perspectives and her brother’s views making her the supreme leader’s spokesperson.