Gulf News

Kim takes wife to cosmetics plant

The couple was accompanie­d to the factory by the North Korean leader’s sister, Kim Yo-jong

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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un took his stylish wife and powerful sister to a make-up plant for a “field guidance trip” amid the country’s nuclear standoff with the US.

During a visit to the Pyongyang Cosmetics Factory in the capital, Kim hailed its “world-level” products that realised “the dream of the women who want to be more beautiful”, the official KCNA news agency reported.

Kim was accompanie­d by Kim Yo-jong, his younger sister and a senior member of the ruling Workers’ Party, it said, with photos showing Kim’s wife, Ri Sol-ju, following him at the factory in a floral pattern dress.

The two are seen as the most powerful women in the isolated, deeply patriarcha­l nation.

Different styles

They have often accompanie­d Kim to official events since he took power in 2011, in a break from the past when former leaders’ spouses or sisters rarely made public appearance­s.

Ri, a former singer also known for her affinity for luxury fashion, is known to have three children with Kim.

Yo-jong, believed to be in her 20s, was promoted earlier this month to be an alternate member of the party’s powerful politburo — the decisionma­king body presided over by her brother.

Known to be handling the party’s propaganda operations, Yo-jong has been seen accompanyi­ng Kim closely North Atlantic Treaty Organisati­on (Nato) chief Jens Stoltenber­g called North Korea a “global threat”, yesterday, and said he backed tighter sanctions against it during a visit to Japan, which has been targeted by Pyongyang’s provocatio­ns.

Stoltenber­g was in Tokyo to meet Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and other senior officials.

He said in a speech to a group of security experts and defence officials, “It [North Korea] is really dangerous; it poses a direct threat to countries in this region [including] Japan, but it is also a global threat,” he added.

Stoltenber­g has stressed that Washington had the right to defend itself and its allies but called for greater diplomatic efforts. and in a casual manner — rare among the country’s top officials — at high-profile public events.

Both Kims were born to the late ruler Kim Jong-il and his third partner, Ko Yong-hui, a former dancer.

At the factory they viewed a mosaic of their father, entitled “To Provide Our People with Better Cosmetics”, KCNA reported on Sunday.

The Kim family has ruled the impoverish­ed but nuclear-armed state with an iron fist through three generation­s since the nation was establishe­d in 1948.

Tensions have been high on the peninsula with the North conducting its sixth nuclear test in September and launching multiple missiles capable of reaching the mainland of its “enemy” the US.

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