Inside North Korea leader Kim Jong Un’s inner circle of powerful women

The inner circle of the 38-year-old reclusive leader has three formidable and beautiful women. One among the three is both a pop star in North Korea and a mistress of Kim.

In recent weeks, Kim’s younger sister, Kim Yo Jong, who is also the head of the North’s powerful Organization and Guidance Department, grabbed a lot of media attention. Several reports claimed that Jong could become the next leader of North Korea if Kim died or was too sick to take charge as the head of state.

But it’s Kim’s wife, Ri Sol-ju who has grown in influence without creating any fuss and grabbing the attention of anyone. Kim’s marriage to Ri was arranged and the couple have two or three children. Ri Sol-ju was once a singer.

A new book by former CIA analyst Jung H. Pak claims that Kim considers himself as a John F. Kennedy of North Korea and sees his wife as a fashionable Jackie Kennedy.

“I don’t think Kim’s wife has any ambitions of being a real political player but she has respect from the elite,” North Korean analyst Bruce Bechtol, a former member of the Defense Intelligence Agency, told New York Post.

“She’s absolutely beautiful and I think she and the kids would be safe if anything happened to Kim. They wouldn’t kill her like Kim’s uncle was killed. They might move her out of the country but that’s as far as they would go,” he added.

But there is a third woman who is complicating the roles of wife and sister. Hyon Song-Wol, around 43, is believed by many as a mistress of Kim. Hyon is the lead vocalist of all-female Moranbong Band, which is also called the Spice Girls of North Korea. Interestingly, just like Kim earlier this month, she was also said to be dead at one point. 

But like Kim, claims of her death turned out to be fake. She is now a very close aide of Kim and has taken over the “Director of the Event” job, which was once held by Kim’s sister.

Some media reports have also claimed that Kims love affair with Hyon was halted by his father but the couple again started romanticising each other after Kim Jong Il’s death in 2011.

“Hyon is a very powerful woman,” said Jason Lee, a North Korean-born defector now living in the US. “She’s definitely more powerful than the wife but she still may not be as powerful as the sister,” added Lee.

“He loves his wife,” Michael Madden, the director and founder of NK Leadership Watch told the Post. “Kim’s almost sort of modern that way. But Hyon is definitely in the picture on some level.”