Kim Yo Jong’s Kids are Alright

The North Korean leadership gathered at Kim Il Sung Stadium in central Pyongyang for its fabulous New Year’s Eve concert.  Kim Jong Un (Kim Cho’ng-un) presided over the event with his Respected Daughter, Kim Ju Ae (Kim Chu-a’e).  His sister, Personal Secretariat Deputy Chief and Workers’ Party of Korea [WPK] Propaganda and Agitation Department [PAD] Deputy Director Kim Yo Jong (Kim Yo’-cho’ng), also brought her children, a son and daughter, to the festivities.

From prior high-level interactions, we know that Kim Yo Jong has at least one child, born around 2017.  There were uncorroborated rumors that she has two children, although the birth year of the child was not known.

The DPRK’s New Year’s Eve performance is one of the few events at which we get a glimpse of the spouses and children of North Korean elites.  WPK Secretary and Organization Guidance Department Director Jo Yong Won (Cho Yo’ng-wo’n) brought his daughter this year.  Newly-appointed WPK Secretary and Economic Affairs Department Director Kim Tok Hun (Kim Tok-hun) brought his wife to the event this year; last year, he went solo.

North Korean elites and their partners attend numerous dinners, concerts and social events throughout the year.  The frequency and obligation of these social events is not what it was under late DPRK leader, Kim Jong Il (Kim Cho’ng-il), but a political spouse certainly must get weary of the niceties of the DPRK elite social calendar (Exhibit A: Ri Sol Ju).  When he was teaching at the University of Virginia, the American novelist William Faulkner was invited to an intimate dinner at the Kennedy White House, but declined with the reason being “it was too far to drive and besides, I hate crowds.”

At the 2023 event, senior intelligence advisor and US interlocutor Kim Yong Chol (Kim Yo’ng Ch’o’l brought his adult daughter despite the fact his wife had attended previous public events.