The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is seen with her children in rare footage

South Korea’s intelligence agency said Friday it was analyzing rare state media footage showing the powerful sister of the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un with two children — saying she could be hers.

The regime’s key spokeswoman Kim Yo Jong was spotted with two youngsters — a boy and a girl — while attending a North Korean New Year art show.

She was seen holding the boy’s hand as the three of them walked together.

The isolated North has never officially released any information about Kim Yo Jong’s marital status or children, but Seoul’s spy agency said it was investigating whether the children in state media footage were hers.

“We are conducting a detailed analysis, but we are keeping the possibility open,” the statement said.

The National Intelligence Service said they had previously discovered that Kim Yo Jong might have children, and the ones she was photographed with were in the correct age range.

Seoul’s unification ministry told AFP the Pyongyang art performance was considered an event where participants were expected to be accompanied by their family members, but said it was “unusual” to see Kim Yo Jong with children.

State media footage also showed leader Kim with his teenage daughter, known as Kim Ju Ae.

The Seoul-based specialist site NK News said the release of the images could be part of a “propaganda effort to humanize regime officials”.

“It also follows a trend that began earlier in 2022 of showing elite officials from Kim Jong Un’s inner circle attending special events or donating to disaster relief with their spouses and family members,” it said.

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

Born in 1988, according to the South Korean government, she is one of three children born to Kim’s father and predecessor, Kim Jong Il, and his third known partner, former dancer Ko Yong Hui.

She was educated in Switzerland alongside her brother and quickly rose through the ranks when he inherited power after their father died in 2011.

In April 2015, Seoul’s spy agency said Kim Yo Jong was expected to give birth next month.

Later in 2018, a spy agency in the South said Kim was believed to have been pregnant during her visit to South Korea February of that year for the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.

This summer, the National Intelligence Service told lawmakers that Kim Jong Un had regained weight and appeared to have health problems related to obesity, such as high blood pressure and diabetes. Kim, known for drinking and smoking, comes from a family with a history of heart problems. And Kim’s father and grandfather, who ruled North Korea before succeeding to power in 2011, he died of heart problems.

Kim’s health is the focus of much attention outside North Korea since he has not formally anointed a successor to take charge of the country’s progress nuclear arsenal aimed at the United States and his allies if he was incapacitated.

The National Intelligence Service estimated that Kim’s pre-teen daughter was reinforcing her likely status as her father’s heir. However, the agency said it could not rule out the possibility that one of her siblings would replace her as she has not been officially designated as her father’s heir.