Kim Yo-jong, the younger sister of Kim Jong-un, has been made a departmental vice director within North Korea’s ruling Worker’s Party's Central Committee, North Korea's official KCNA news agency said on Thursday. The announcement was seen as confirmation of Miss Kim's rise through the ranks to be a trusted aide of her brother, who last year had their uncle Jang Song-thaek, executed for treason.

Kim Yo-jong, believed to be 26, made her first public appearance during the funeral of her father and longtime ruler Kim Jong-il in December 2011. She was listed as a “vice department director” in the central committee of the ruling Workers’ party while accompanying her brother on a trip to a cartoon film studio founded by their grandfather and the North’s founding president, Kim Il-sung. During the visit, Kim Jong-un urged animators to produce works that are “true to the intention of the party”.