Kim promotes sister

Japan backs US on N. Korea pressure: Abe

SEOUL, Oct 8, (Agencies): North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has promoted his sister to a senior ruling party post, state media said Sunday, and praised the country’s nuclear weapons programme which has sparked international alarm.

Kim Yo-Jong becomes an alternate member of the party’s powerful politburo, the decision-making body presided over by her brother, the official KCNA news agency said.

The promotion was announced along with those for dozens of other top officials at a party meeting led by the leader on Saturday.

It came as the regime faces growing global pressure to curb its weapons drive following recent nuclear and missile tests.

Tensions soared as Kim traded verbal threats with US President Donald Trump, who tweeted on Saturday that “only one thing will work” to tame the isolated nuclear-armed state.

The sister, in her late 20s, has frequently been seen accompanying her brother on his “field guidance trips” and other events and is known to have been involved in the party’s propaganda operations.

Both were born to the late former ruler Kim Jong-Il and his third partner, former dancer Ko Yong-Hui.

The family has ruled North Korea since its creation in 1948. The current ruler came to power after the death of his father in December 2011.

Since then he has overseen four of the country’s six nuclear tests — most recently in September — while cementing his grip on power through a series of purges, including those targeting his uncle and half-brother.

The uncle, Jang Song-Thaek, was executed in 2013 for treason and the half-brother Kim Jong-Nam was killed by a toxic nerve agent in a Cold War-style assassination at a Kuala Lumpur airport in February.

Meanwhile, Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Sunday that his government fully supports the US stance on pressuring North Korea over its nuclear weapons program, with all options on the table.

In a televised debate Sunday among leaders of major political parties, Abe said North Korea had failed to deliver on past promises to give up its pursuit of nuclear technology made during “six-party” talks with Japan, China, the US, Russia and South Korea.

“They used the framework of the dialogue to earn time so that they could develop their nuclear technology,” Abe said. “As the result, their nuclear capability has reached to this level and we cannot afford being deceived by them again.”

Abe did not specifically comment on a tweet during the weekend about North Korea by US President Donald Trump.

Trump said that 25 years of negotiations had not worked, with “agreements violated before the ink was dry, makings fools of US negotiators. Sorry, but only one thing will work!”

Abe did say his government supports the US stance that more pressure is needed and all options are on the table.

Concerns over North Korea are a top issue in a Japanese parliamentary election scheduled for Oct 22.

Also:

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: The trial of two women accused of killing the estranged half brother of North Korea’s leader enters its second week with the court moving temporarily Monday to a high-security laboratory to view evidence tainted with the toxic VX nerve agent.

High Court Judge Azmi Ariffin declared that prosecutors and defense lawyers, along with the two suspects, will hold court at the laboratory for chemical weapons analysis to examine samples of the women’s clothing before they are formally submitted as evidence.

The decision came after government chemist Raja Subramaniam told the court that VX found on the clothing may still be active.