North Korea's apparent heir, and Kim Jong Un's sister: Who is Kim Yo Jong?

With media reports on the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in a coma, experts and South Korea's intelligence agencies believe that Kim Yo Jong, the sister of Kim Jong Un, is serving as his "de facto second-in-command".

The 30-something is Kim Jong’s only close relative who has emerged as having a role in North Korean politics, upfront.

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She gained international attention first in 2018, as a part of the delegation to the Winter Olympics, where the North and South competed as a joint team. She was the first member of the family to visit South Korea.

Born in 1988, according to the Unification ministry, Yo Jong is one of three children born to Kim's predecessor Kim Jong Il and his third known partner, former dancer Ko Yong Hui.

She was educated in Switzerland alongside her brother and rose rapidly up the ranks once he inherited power after their father's death in 2011. Her existence was barely known to the wider world until his funeral, when she was seen standing right behind Kim Jong Un on state television, looking tearful and ashen-faced.

Before being promoted to a position in the politburo in 2017, Kim Yo Jong has been influential as vice-director of the propaganda and agitation department. She is also rumoured to be married to the son of Choe Ryong-hae, the Workers' Party of Korea’s secretary and effectively Kim Jong-Un's second in command.

According to media reports, she has been in the limelight for delivering a series of strongly-worded messages against the South and has emerged as North Korea's spokesperson on inter-Korean affairs.

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The North has never had a woman leader but speculation swirled over Yo Jong as a potential successor in the event of the death of her brother, after he was absent from public view for weeks earlier this year.

Leadership has always been a family affair in the North, and she is now one of the most prominent members of the "Paektu bloodline" -- a Northern term for Kim Il Sung and his descendants, who have led the nuclear-armed country since its foundation.

(With inputs from agencies)