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November 23, 2009
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| A one-time partner of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il may have married another man and left her job as Kim’s secretary, South Korean intelligence sources said. Sources told the JoongAng Ilbo that they have received tips that Kim Ok has married an official from the ruling Workers’ Party. “We’re analyzing intelligence that Kim Ok, who had been Kim Jong-il’s personal secretary, has tied the knot with a Workers’ Party member,” a source said. “We believe Kim Ok has quit her job in the secretariat.” In North Korea, women working in the ruling party leave their posts after getting married, on the grounds that they may be too distracted at work. Kim Ok, thought to be 45, majored in piano at Pyongyang University of Music and Dance. She is believed to have been Kim Jong-il’s secretary since the late 1980s and to have been the Dear Leader’s fourth domestic partner following the death of Ko Yong-hui in 2004. Kim Ok has accompanied Kim Jong-il abroad, including during the leader’s visit to China in January 2006. The South Korean intelligence has kept a closer eye on Kim Ok since Kim Jong-il reportedly suffered a stroke in August of last year. But intelligence sources here said Kim Ok has become less visible since the Supreme People’s Assembly held a session in April. “With Kim Ok out of the picture, we’re instead focusing on the increased activities for Kim Kyong-hui, Kim Jong-il’s younger sister and a director at the Workers’ Party,” a government source said. “It’s possible that the intelligence on Kim Ok’s marriage is related to Kim Kyong-hui’s emergence into the spotlight.” Kim Kyong-hui, who had mostly kept a low profile, made her first public appearance in 15 years in June, when she accompanied Kim Jong-il to a cooperative farm. She has since traveled with her older brother on a dozen occasions. Kim Ok is daughter of Kim Hyo, a high-ranking official at the finance and accounting department of the Workers’ Party. He was elected to the Supreme People’s Assembly earlier this year. Ok’s brother, Kim Kyun, is the vice dean of the Kim Il Sung University and was named the “merited scientist” in April last year. The name of Kim Ok’s younger sister is not known, but South Korean intelligence sources believe the sister was by the side of Jang Kum-song, a nephew of Kim Jong-il, when Jang passed away in 2006 in France. By Jeong Yong-soo [jeeho@joongang.co.kr] JoongAng daily Hot issue
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