On January 25, the aunt of North Korea’s Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un and former Secretary of the Workers’ Party Central Committee Kim Kyong-hee made a public appearance more than six years after her husband, Jang Sung-taek, was executed, quelling various rumors of "death".
On January 26, Chaozhong News Agency reported that Kim Jong-un and others were watching the Spring Festival performance at Sanjiyuan Theater on the 25th. The article also included a photo of Kim Kyung-hee sitting next to Kim Jong-un’s wife, Li Xue, watching the performance together. According to Yonhap News Agency’s report on the 26th, Kim Jingji’s protocol ranking is second only to Choi Longhae, the first vice chairman of the North Korean State Council.
Kim Kyung-hee's husband and Kim Jong-un's uncle Jang Sung-taek was once known as the "second person" in North Korean politics. According to media such as the New York Times and Yonhap News Agency, Jang Sung-taek and Kim Kyung-hee played regent roles in the early days of Kim Jong-il’s death in 2011 and Kim Jong-un’s reign. According to a previous report by Xinhua News Agency, on December 12, 2013, North Korea sentenced Zhang Chengze to death in accordance with Article 60 of the North Korean Criminal Law for engaging in conspiracy activities to subvert the country and executed it on the same day. Yonhap News Agency said that after Zhang Chengze was executed, Jin Jingji did not show up in public and was relieved of all duties. Since then, rumors of Jin Jingji and her husband being purged, stroke death, suicide, etc. have spread.
On April 15, 2014, Kim Kyung Hee unexpectedly appeared in a documentary broadcast by North Korean Central Television. By convention, North Korea usually deletes images of high-ranking officials being purged. The appearance of Jin Jingji confirmed that despite her husband being purged, she was not excluded from the political elite. On the 29th of that month, the TV station aired a documentary about Kim Jong-un encouraging people to exercise. The 68-year-old Kim Kyong-hee was found accompanying his nephew on the football field, which further verified the above point of view. Yonhap News Agency reported in 2017 that Jin Jingji suffered from diabetes and alcohol dependence and was convalescing in seclusion on the outskirts of Pyongyang. However, judging from the photos released by the Korean Central News Agency on the 26th, his health appears to be intact.
Kim Kyung-hee is the only sister of the late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, and a representative of the Baektu Mountain lineage. According to analysis, Kim Kyung-hee, who has the second-generation Baekdusan ancestry, sits side by side with Kim Jong-un and Kim Yo-jung, the third-generation Baekdusan descent, highlighting that the Baekdusan ancestry has been passed down from generation to generation.
Yonhap News Agency pointed out on the 26th that Kim Jong-un’s reappearance was quite meaningful when Kim Jong-un climbed Mount Baitou twice last year and called on the whole people to use the anti-Japanese guerrilla spirit of the leaders of Mount Baitou to overcome many difficulties such as US sanctions. This move not only quelled the various rumors surrounding Kim Kyung Hee, but also showed the image of the Kim family as one-hearted to the North Korean people and consolidated internal unity. It is expected that Jin Jingji will still be able to attend cultural performances and other less politically colored activities in the future.
Jin Jingji was born in 1946 and married Zhang Chengze in 1972. She was appointed Minister of Light Industry of the Workers’ Party of Korea in 1987 and often accompanied Kim Jong Il on inspections. She also served as a Politburo member during Kim Jong Un’s administration. Although she was not a member of the army, she was appointed as a general of the Korean People’s Army in September 2010. .
