#Kim Jong Un’s rumored delegation of power disputed by ex-general

Kim Jong Un has not handed down his key posts, which suggests the North Korean despot has not delegated and relinquished power in the rogue regime, a retired top US military commander said in a new report.

Ex-Army Gen. Vincent Brooks — who led the United States Forces Korea from 2016 to 2018 — told the Voice of America that a South Korean intelligence report that Kim ceded some of his authority to his sister Kim Yo Jong is not really a sign of power sharing, The Korea Herald reports.

On Aug. 20, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service told lawmakers that 32-year-old Kim Yo Jong – who has vanished from public view — now serves as his “de facto second-in-command,” though she has not been designated his successor.

The shakeup in the top echelons just means that aides to the 36-year-old leader are assuming more senior-level responsibilities in the Hermit Kingdom, Brooks said, according to the Herald, an English-language outlet based in Seoul.

The former commander said that Kim, who doesn’t trust anyone completely, taps underlings to positions based on their loyalty to him, the Herald reported.