In this Jan 25, 2020, photo provided by the DPRK government, DPRK leader Kim Jong-un, center, claps with his wife Ri Sol-ju, third from right, and his aunt Kim Kyong-hui, second from right, as they attend a concert celebrating Lunar New Year's Day in Pyongyang, DPRK. (KOREAN CENTRAL NEWS AGENCY / KOREA NEWS SERVICE VIA AP)

SEOUL - The influential aunt of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) leader Kim Jong-un made her first public appearance in six years, state media reported on Sunday, years after her husband was executed in a purge.

Kim Kyong-hui is the sister of former DPRK leader Kim Jong-il, and took a leading role during the first years of current leader Kim Jong-un’s rule

Kim Kyong-hui is the sister of former DPRK leader Kim Jong-il, and took a leading role during the first years of current leader Kim Jong-un’s rule.

She had largely disappeared from public view since 2013, after Kim Jong-un ordered the execution of her husband, Jang Song-thaek, seen as the second most powerful man in the DPRK at the time.

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On Sunday, state media showed Kim Kyong-hui sitting near Kim Jong-un at a performance celebrating the Lunar New Year in Pyongyang.

“Many DPRK watchers had assumed that Kim Kyong-hui had gone into exile or even killed in the wake of her husband’s death, so to see her pop up by the leader’s side some six years later is certainly a surprise,” said Oliver Hotham, managing editor of NK News, a Seoul-based organization that monitors DPRK.

Kim Kyong-hui and her husband were once a power couple that formed a kind of regency in the political world of the DPRK behind its young and mercurial leader, who succeeded his father in December 2011.

This picture released from the DPRK's official Korean Central News Agency on Sept 29, 2010 and taken on Sept 28, 2010 shows the DPRK's Workers' Party representatives attending the Conference of the Workers' Party of Korea in Pyongyang as the DPRK leader Kim Jong-Il's younger sister Kim Kyong-hui (front row-3rd right) was elected as a member of the party political bureau, or politburo. (PHOTO / HO / KCNA / AFP)

Kim Kyong-hui’s reappearance in a position of prominence suggests she has retained, or at least regained an influential position behind the scenes, Hotham said, noting that state media listed her after the DPRK’s nominal No 2, Choe Ryong-hae.

“That she’s sitting right next to the leader and is listed second after Choe Ryong-hae suggests she might have been granted a significant new position, potentially advising Kim Jong-un on economic or political issues,” he said.

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“It’s also a reminder of how weird and brutal the DPRK is, after all she’s sitting next to the man who ordered her husband’s execution.”

Kim Jong-un is facing a year of sensitive international and domestic politics, as denuclearization talks with the United States remain stalled and international sanctions restrict the DPRK’s economy.