Kim Jong Il's Sister Is 'Evil'

The wacko family gets wackier
By Polly Davis Doig,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 30, 2010 10:21 AM CDT
Kim Jong Il's Sister Is 'Evil'
Kim Kyong Hui, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, claps at third from right, front row.   (AP Photo/Korean Central News Agency via Korea News Service)

North Korea's crazy dictator Kim Jong Il and mysterious-and-chubby heir Kim Jong Un aren't quite the Brady Bunch, so why shouldn't the elder Kim's sister turn out to be a raging alcoholic who orchestrated a fatal car accident to bump off a rival and drove her own daughter to suicide? Kim Kyong Hui, who was named a four-star general this week by Dear Leader, is a steely figure who's long lived out of the limelight, writes Philip Shenon for the Daily Beast, and her promotion signals Kim's desire to cement power within the family.

“It’s a sign that she really must be a player, a critical component of the family’s game plan for maintaining itself in power," says a former US diplomat. But Korea-watchers can only speculate about the deeper implications of the sudden prominence of the woman South Korean newspapers have charmingly called "evil:" Will she make a power grab of her own? Will she make one on behalf of Kim Jong Il's older son, whom she reportedly favors? “It’s almost a Shakespearean question when you look at the family machinations,” says the former diplomat. “We’re really groping here—this is the most secretive family in the world.” (More Kim Jong Il stories.)

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