Kim Jong | Pakistan

South Korea’s spy agency now believes North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s teenage daughter has been positioned as his successor, lawmakers said on Monday, citing a recent public display of her driving a tank that was likely intended to dispel any doubts. The National Intelligence Service (NIS) told lawmakers its assessment was not based on circumstantial inference but on what it described as “credible intelligence” collected by the agency, according to briefings by ruling and opposition party members after a closed-door parliamentary meeting. The NIS said the imagery of the daughter driving a tank was intended to highlight her supposed military aptitude and dispel doubts over a female heir, lawmakers said. North Korea’s state-run media KCNA last month published photos of Kim and his daughter driving a new tank, following earlier images showing her firing a rifle at a shooting range and using a handgun. Such scenes are intended to pay “homage” to Kim’s own public military appearances during the early 2010s when ...

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw the ground test of an upgraded rocket engine, state media reported on Sunday, marking another key step in its weapons programme. Defence experts believe North Korea is planning to use its solid-fuel rocket engines for launching intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). The engines enable faster missile launches as they require little preparation before ignition. The latest test was “part of the national defence development plan in the period of the new five-year plan”, Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said, without elaborating on the date or location of the test. It was the first officially confirmed high-thrust solid-fuel engine test since September last year, when state media said an engine generated a maximum thrust of 1,971 kilonewtons. KCNA reported the recent test had achieved a higher thrust of 2,500 kilonewtons. The development demonstrates North Korea’s “resolve to acquire missiles capable of hitting targets around the globe”, Hong Min,...

North Korea’s ruling party has elevated leader Kim Jong Un’s powerful younger sister to a top position, state media said on Tuesday, a sign of her far-reaching influence within the reclusive nation. Thousands of party elites have packed the capital Pyongyang for a once-in-five-years summit of the ruling Workers’ Party, a gathering that directs state efforts on everything from diplomacy to war planning. Kim Yo Jong — long considered one of her brother’s closest lieutenants — was promoted to department director within the party’s apex central committee, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. Although it was not clear which department she would lead, she has previously held a senior role within the party’s propaganda unit. Kim Yo Jong has in recent years emerged as one of the most powerful figures in North Korea, playing a highly visible role in diplomacy, nuclear negotiations and other matters of state. “Kim Yo Jong is one of the very few people Kim Jong Un can trust and rely on,” said Ahn Chan-il, a resea...