Sign up for our special edition newsletter to get a daily update on the coronavirus pandemic.

As reports swirl about whether Kim Jong Un’s younger sister is a candidate to replace him should he die, a South Korean think tank reported Wednesday that she has been gaining power in the Hermit Kingdom in recent months.

“Kim Jong-un, in order to overcome the national crisis, could expand [Kim] Yo-jong’s status and role as the ‘party center,’” the National Assembly Research Service said in a report, the Korea Herald reported.

“Party center” is a term used for both Kim and his father, Kim Jong Il, when they were recognized as next in line to become North Korea’s supreme leader, the English-language South Korean paper reported.

Speculation has intensified over Kim’s health in recent weeks, with some reports asserting that he was dead while others claimed he had fled the capital, Pyongyang, to avoid the coronavirus.

The think tank said the 32-year-old Kim Yo Jong’s reappointment as an alternate member of the ruling Workers’ Party’s top policymaking body earlier this month would strengthen her politically as part of the “Baekdu bloodline,” referring to the family of dictators.

Related Video Video length 32 seconds :32 North Korea ‘bewildered’ after faux news report claims Kim Jong Un is dead North Korea ‘bewildered’ after faux news report claims Kim Jong Un is dead

“From early this year, Yo-jong has received the spotlight for active roles, including announcing official messages to South Korea and the US, standing in for Jong-un,” the report said.

“As an individual political figure, she has virtually taken on the role of the party’s center to undertake the responsibility of the party’s monolithic leadership system,” it continued, adding she had gained more notoriety since questions arose about Kim’s health.

The guessing games about Kim began after he skipped an annual visit to the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun on April 15 to mark the birth of the leader’s late grandfather, Kim Il Sung, founder of the Communist dictatorship.

President Trump hinted this week that he knew Kim’s condition, but did not provide details.

While many have speculated that Kim’s sister could take over, other reports suggest that a long-exiled uncle, Kim Pyong Il, could also be a contender.

The 65-year-old is the last known survivor of the Hermit Kingdom’s founder, Kim Il Sung, Bloomberg News reported.

In the 1970s, Kim Pyong Il was passed over in favor of his half-brother, Kim Jong Il, who took the reins of the rogue regime in 1994 and ruled until 2011.

Kim Pyong Il wound up spending some 40 years as a diplomat in Hungary, Bulgaria, Finland, Poland and the Czech Republic before he returned to his country last year.

Some North Korea watchers now think he might leapfrog over Kim Yo Jong to take control, mainly due to his gender in the male-dominated society, according to the news outlet.