news.yahoo.com
By HYUNG-JIN KIM
13 hours ago
ajw.asahi.com
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) —The aunt of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was named to an ad-hoc state committee, the country’s official media reported over the weekend, an indication that the execution of her husband and the country’s No. 2 has not immediately diminished her influence.
Kim Kyong Hui is a younger sister of late leader Kim Jong Il — the father of current leader Kim Jung Un — and her fate was questioned after North Korea stunned the world Friday by announcing that her husband Jang Song Thaek was executed for trying to overthrow the government.
On late Saturday, her name appeared in a state media dispatch alongside top officials in a funeral committee for fellow senior Workers’ Party official Kim Kuk Thae, who died on Friday. Her name was placed sixth in sequence in the dispatch that listed more than 50 funeral committee members.
Considered extremely close to her brother Kim Jong Il, Kim Kyong Hui has risen through the ranks in recent years helping Kim Jong Un to be groomed as the country’s next leader and eventually take over after his father’s death in late 2011.
The 67-year-old woman holds a slew of top posts, such as a ruling Workers’ Party secretary and a four-star army general. Some analysts said she may be spared her husband’s fate because she is directly related to the country’s founder Kim Il Sung, grandfather of Kim Jong Un.
Analysts said the dispatch suggested Kim Kyong Hui’s political standing hasn’t been immediately affected by her husband’s execution and she may have even given her nephew the green light to fire Jang — but not to have him executed.