Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un, attends a wreath-laying ceremony at Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum in Hanoi, Vietnam, in this March 2, 2019, photo. AP-Yonhap

Statement shows Kim in charge of foreign, South Korea affairs

By Do Je-hae

Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, has come under the spotlight again for a statement she issued Wednesday in response to South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha's recent remarks about the reclusive state's anti-COVID-19 measures.

Media interest has been drawn to the event as it is the first time the North's most powerful woman has issued a statement directed at the South in her own name since one in June that denounced anti-North Korea propaganda leaflets being sent from South Korea.

The statement, released under the title of the first vice department director of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, came after Kang made some negative remarks about Pyongyang's COVID-19 response, saying it was hard to believe that the North did not have any confirmed cases.