The ruling Workers’ Party Central Committee names Kim Yo Jong as the full department director at the key party congress.

The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been promoted in the ruling party structure at the party congress, during which he set the country’s economic agenda for the next five years, according to state media.

The ruling Workers’ Party Central Committee named the North Korean leader’s sister, Kim Yo Jong – who was previously a deputy department director – as a full department director, Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Tuesday.

According to South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency, Kim Yo Jong will likely be assigned to lead the propaganda department, whose role includes overseeing inter-Korean relations or external strategies.

Thousands of party elites have packed the capital, Pyongyang, for the once-in-five-years Workers’ Party summit, a gathering that directs state efforts on everything from diplomacy to war planning.

On Monday, members re-elected Kim Jong Un as the Workers’ Party’s secretary-general, extending his 15-year rule of the country’s sole governing party and solidifying his grip on power.

Kim Yo Jong has long been among her brother’s closest lieutenants and one of the most influential women in the party.

Born in the late 1980s, according to the South Korean government, she is one of three children to Kim’s father and predecessor, Kim Jong Il, and his third known partner, former dancer Ko Yong Hui.

Kim Yo Jong was educated in Switzerland alongside her brother and rose rapidly up the ranks once he inherited power after their father’s death in 2011.

In 2018, she visited South Korea for the PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games, during a period of inter-Korean rapprochement.

Pyongyang also frequently uses her name to issue statements outlining its positions, or criticising South Korea and its ally, the United States.

The announcement of Kim Yo Jong’s promotion comes as her brother promised to solidify and develop North Korea’s economy over the next five years, KCNA reported on Tuesday.

Calling the next five years a “full-scale progress phase” in a speech on Monday, Kim Jong Un called for revolutionising thought, technology and culture so new projects will be well-managed, KCNA said.

KCNA also confirmed that Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a message to Kim Jong Un to congratulate him on his re-election as party leader.

During the ruling party’s gathering, particular attention has also focused on the whereabouts of Kim Jong Un’s teenage daughter, Kim Ju Ae, who has emerged as his heir apparent, according to Seoul’s national intelligence service.

In recent months, Kim Ju Ae has frequently accompanied her father to important events, including missile test launches and military ceremonies.