Kim Jong Un's sister seen with children in state media images

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

Key regime spokeswoman Kim Yo Jong was spotted with two youngsters -- a boy and a girl -- while attending North Korea's New Year art performance.

She was seen holding the boy's hand as the three walked together.

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.

"We are conducting a detailed analysis while keeping the possibility open," it said in a statement.

The National Intelligence Service said they had previously detected 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 that the art performance event in Pyongyang is understood to be one where participants are expected to accompany 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 Ju Ae.

Seoul-based specialist site NK News said the release of the images might be part of a "propaganda effort to humanize regime officials".

"It also follows a trend that started earlier in 2022 of showing elite officials in Kim Jong Un’s inner circle arriving at special events or donating 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 rose rapidly up the ranks once he inherited power after their father's death in 2011.

In April 2015, Seoul's spy agency said that Kim Yo Jong was presumed to be giving birth the following month.

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

© Agence France-Presse