North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s once-powerful aunt has stepped down from most of her major posts, a South Korean government directory on the secretive neighbor’s ruling elites showed Friday
The 2015 directory, released by the Ministry of Unification, does not include Kim Kyong-hui’s name on the list of the cabinet members, the list of ruling Workers’ Party of Korea’s secretaries or the party’s politburo.
In the annual dossier, the 69-year old only retained relatively minor seats as the party’s central committee member, military general and representative for the Supreme People’s Assembly.
She is a daughter of North Korean founder Kim Il-sung and sister of late leader Kim Jong-il and married Jang Song-thaek, former vice chairman at the all-powerful National Defense Commission, who was unexpectedly executed in 2013 for treason charges.
Since her husband’s purge, Kim has often been rumored to have been dismissed or in ill health.
“It has been mostly likely confirmed that Kim Kyong-hui resigned from all official posts following Jang Song-thaek,” a government official said. The official said the unification ministry’s directory was compiled based on publicly accessible data.
He added the aunt has not appeared to the public even once since September 2013.
Meanwhile, the directory also put the birthday of Kim Jong-il as Jan. 8, 1984, with an additional explanation saying there are rumors that his birth year is 1982 or 1983.
Previously, the ministry said his birth year is unclear although he may have been born in sometime between 1982 and 1984. (Yonhap)
