From holding an ashtray for her brother to smoke on the way to the US-North Korea summit to issuing a statement welcoming the US President, Kim Yo-jong is gradually becoming the second most powerful person in North Korea.

She represented Kim Jong-un at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Kim Yo-jong’s role is growing in the context of the world dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic, in which North Korea affirms that it has not recorded any people infected with nCoV.

Kim Yo-jong at the US-North Korea summit in Hanoi in February 2019.

Kim Yo-jong issued her first political statement in early March, criticizing South Korea as a `dog barking in fear` after the country expressed deep concern about North Korea’s missile test, saying that Seoul

Also in March, she welcomed US President Donald Trump after he sent a letter to Kim Jong-un expressing his desire to maintain bilateral relations, as well as offering to assist North Korea in dealing with Covid-19.

Kim Yo-jong’s political statements show her central role in the administration.

Kim Yo-jong also seems to have suffered some setbacks, especially after the US-North Korea nuclear negotiations reached a deadlock.

In terms of foreign affairs, Kim Yo-jong always appears in the diplomatic process between North Korea and the US and South Korea.

`Yo-jong has direct access and strong influence on Kim Jong-un. She is not involved in the North Korean leader’s personnel coordination decisions but always knows the situation. This is a person who is trusted.`

Kim Yo-jong rarely appeared publicly before 2010, when she attended the Korean Workers’ Party conference.

However, Kim Yo-jong’s political journey seems to have begun in the late 1990s when she went to school in Berne, Switzerland, with her brother Kim Jong-un.

Kim Yo-jong assisted Kim Jong-un at the meeting with the President of South Korea at the inter-Korean border in 2018. Photo: AP.

Not much is known about Kim Yo-jong’s life from the time she graduated in computer science from Kim Il Sung University in the early 2000s until she joined politics in 2007.

Kim Yo-jong is said to have participated in the transfer of power to Kim Jong-un after leader Kim Jong-il suffered two strokes in 2008, but she was only mentioned once by North Korean state media.

`She has demonstrated her skills in modernizing the government’s image and influencing the national media. Kim Yo-jong’s most important role is as a trusted assistant to Kim Jong-un. Her messages

Kim Yo-jong’s role will likely continue to expand as North Korea resumes nuclear diplomacy after the Covid-19 pandemic.

Still, experts say Kim Yo-jong will never come to power if Kim Jong-un is no longer leader.