Kim Jong Un promotes his sister to center of leadership

Amid claims of U.S.-led assassination attempts on the North Korean leader, the reclusive nation’s administration is now looking at consolidating power. Kim Jong Un on Sunday, elevated his younger sister Kim Kyung Hui to the powerful political bureau of the ruling Workers’ Party. The promotion moves her closer to the center of the leadership, as the North Korean dictator advances towards consolidating his family’s control over North Korea. The move also comes two days before the North Korean regime celebrates the 72nd anniversary of the founding of the Workers’ Party, through which the Kim family controls the country. Kim Jong Un, who is chairman of the party among the other titles he holds, said that North Korea’s nuclear weapons are necessary “for defending the destiny and sovereignty of the country from the protracted nuclear threats of the U.S. imperialists” Michael Madden, an expert on the Kim family who runs the North Korea Leadership Watch blog, thinks that Kim Jong Un might be positioning his sister as the next heir to the family dynasty.