North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has promoted his 28-year-old sister to the ruling party's political wing, bringing her closer to the center of power and tightening the family's control of the regime.
The promotion of Kim Yo Jong took place at a Workers' Party convention Saturday in Pyongyang, where Kim Jong Un called for continuing nuclear-arms development to defend against what he called "U.S. imperialists' nuclear blackmail," according to the official Korean Central News Agency.
"The present situation is stern and we are faced with ordeals," Kim told the meeting as the party promoted dozens of officials, including his younger sister as an alternate member of the Political Bureau of the Party Central Committee. The bureau is led by Kim Jong Un and serves as the party's core decision-making body.