Smoke signals

Ready with an ashtray at a railway station, taking away gifts of flowers and giving directions to staff, Kim Yo Jong has been rushed off her feet as personal secretary to her brother and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Vietnam.

Kim Yo Jong, who holds the title of vice director of the ruling Workers' Party, came to the world's attention at the Winter Olympics in South Korea a year ago, when her big smile and relaxed manner made her a hit with many south of the DMZ.

But it has been non-stop for her on the trip to Hanoi, trailing her brother during his second summit with US President Donald Trump, her hair neatly half swept back in trademark fashion, making sure everything goes like clockwork.

Kim Yo Jong, 29, in high heels and black two-piece suit, was ubiquitous even before her brother, a stickler for cleanliness, arrived in Hanoi on Tuesday.

As Kim Jong Un took a cigarette break at a railway station in the southern Chinese city of Nanning, she approached him holding a crystal ashtray in two hands, footage from Japanese broadcaster TBS showed.

After Kim's train rolled into the Vietnamese border station of Dong Dang, Kim Yo Jong was the first person to emerge, alongside protocol chief Kim Chang Son.

She appeared at one point to slightly push aside Kim Yong Chol, the leader's chief nuclear envoy and top aide, as she sprinted from the train towards her brother and took welcome flowers from him.