Kim Jong Un's New Year's bash: Spotlight on Russian ties
The niece and nephew of Kim Jong Un were seen publicly for the first time at a New Year's Eve party in Pyongyang. Through video analysis, a French security expert determined that the only country represented at the dictator's event was Russia.
The official New Year's Eve party, organized by the Korean regime, took place at Rungrado Stadium in Pyongyang. "Before the fireworks, officials enjoyed a private party near the stadium," reports Baptiste Robert, a French security analyst and head of Predicta Lab, a company specializing in analyzing publicly available data, on the X platform.
Immediately after the event, South Korean media noted the presence of 37-year-old Kim Yo Jong - the sister of Kim Jong Un, who was publicly accompanied for the first time by two children: a boy and a girl.
"The isolated North has never officially disclosed any information about Kim Yo Jong's marital status or children, but Seoul's spy agency said it was examining whether the children in the state media footage were hers," informed CBS News.
The footage also showed the teenage daughter of Kim Jong Un himself. According to South Korean media, the presence of families might be part of propaganda efforts aimed at humanizing regime officials.
French researcher Baptiste Robert also focused his attention on two other individuals. These are men with "non-Asian" facial features. Based on other photos available online, he identified one of them as the Russian ambassador to North Korea, Aleksandr Matsegora.
The second man is most likely Aleksey Bartusov, the defence attaché of the Russian embassy in Pyongyang.
The expert also managed to decipher the identity of the woman accompanying the Russian ambassador and sitting with him at one table. She is Choe Son-hui, the Foreign Minister of North Korea. In August last year, she participated in the North Korea-Russia summit in Pyongyang, attended by the leaders of both countries.
"In conclusion, Russia was represented at Kim Jong Un's New Year's Eve party," emphasized Baptiste Robert in his post on X.
