The situation in the DPRK is drawing attention towards an individual who has apparently already been “chosen as Kim Jong-un’s successor”.
In fact, nothing has been decided for sure. But, in recent years, Kim Yo-jong has been rising up the career ladder fairly quickly, and amid individuals who are on average twice her age, the young woman has unsurprisingly garnered attention from the public.
The victorious allied countries from World War 2 recently celebrated the 75th anniversary of the conclusion of fighting in Europe when Germany surrendered. The Asian phase of the war was to continue for a further three months until the United States nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (using two different types of nuclear bombs for real life practice purposes, the Japanese having offered to surrender months before) forced Japan’s unconditional surrender.
Recently, we reported about the Politburo meeting of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea on 11 April 2020 and a modest celebration of the Day of the Sun. Since then Kim Jong-un has not been seen in public. He even skipped an annual visit to the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun on 15 April to mark the 108th anniversary since the birth of Kim Il-sung, which gave rise to rumors of a particular sort. It was the first important holiday that he missed out on after coming to power in 2012.
The political games being played over Taiwan for the last few months are yet another example of how the common SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus crisis has barely had any effect on the nature of global political processes.
Taiwan’s issue with mainland China has long been one of the main sticking points in deteriorating relations between the world’s two leading powers, and it does not look like the unprecedented common threat of the coronavirus crisis is going to change that any time soon.
