North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s sister attended an event in Pyongyang on Tuesday, appearing in public for the first time in more than 50 days, The Associated Press reported.
Kim Yo Jong was shown on state media clapping alongside Kim Jong Un at North Korea’s mass games at the 150,000-seat May Day Stadium, according to the AP.
{mosads}Her appearance casts doubt on speculation that she had been ordered to lay low after the country’s failed nuclear summit with the U.S., the news service noted.
Kim Yo Jong is a senior official of North Korea’s ruling party and is believed to be her brother’s closest confidante.
She attended the Hanoi, Vietnam, summit earlier this year with Kim Jong Un, but did not accompany him to Vladivostok, Russia, in April for a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to the AP.
South Korea’s conservative Chosun Ilbo newspaper last week cited an unidentified source in reporting that Kim Jong Un had ordered his sister to avoid the spotlight following the summit with the U.S.
Cheong Seong-Chang, an analyst at South Korea’s Sejong Institute, told AP that it is more likely she was reappearing after a period of rest.
North Korean media last showed Kim Yo Jong at a meeting of the country’s rubber-stamp parliament on April 12, the news service noted.