Forget Trump and Kim – North Korea’s first sister Kim Yo-jong lurks, hovers and steals the spotlight

The younger Kim shadowed her brother at the Hanoi summit, leading to amusement and speculation over how much power she wields

There are women who play a prominent role in Pyongyang’s ‘soft diplomacy’, but there are still deep levels of inequality in the regime, experts say

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Kim Yo-jong drew global attention when she accompanied her brother Kim Jong-un to meet US President Donald Trump in Hanoi. Photo: AP

Published: 1:02pm, 1 Mar 2019Updated: 6:49pm, 1 Mar 2019

“Always close by”, “creeping in the back” and “#Fijiwatergirl” – social media users on Twitter this week were not short of descriptions for Kim Yo-jong, the younger sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

Dressed in a sharp black suit, with her long hair pulled back, Yo-jong, who is estimated to be in her 30s, stole some of the limelight from her brother this week when he met with United States President Donald Trump in Hanoi for denuclearisation talks.

The summit ended abruptly with no agreement reached, but during the discussions, the younger Kim provided some distraction to the media. As the leaders talked and took a stroll through the garden of the Sofitel Metropole, cameras caught her peeking out from behind a shroud of greenery, and then following behind the men.

Earlier, there were videos of Yo-jong holding what looked like a crystal ashtray for her brother to stub out his cigarette, when the delegation from North Korea took a break during their 70-hour train ride from Pyongyang to the Vietnamese border station of Dong Dang.

When Kim Jong-un disembarked from the armoured train, his sister was seen pushing past North Korean protocol chief Kim Chang-son to inspect the path ahead for her older brother.

Her hovering presence led at least one Twitter user to liken Yo-jong to the model who, armed with a tray of Fiji Water, repeatedly photobombed the red carpet at January’s Golden Globes awards.

But more than just fodder for the Twitterati, the images highlighted the complex – if not contradictory – role the younger Kim plays. She is said to be a high-level Communist Party member but in public, behaves more like a chief-of-staff to her brother – the images of her presenting the ashtray to her brother sparked remarks that she was subservient.